Eric Vazzoler
Born in 1963 in Paris, Eric studied Russian at the Sorbonne and became a free-lance portrait photographer for various French publications including Libération, Le Point, and La Vie, with short stints at Vu, Sipa und Editing (Paris). He joined Zeitenspiegel in 2006, the same year he was nominated for the Prix Niepce. His favorite subject is youth culture in Europe and the former Soviet Union, and his upcoming projects involve the skinhead scene.
Features
Chaos is my co-pilot I
Not your typical jamboree: Thousands of police officers in riot gear, a downtown closed to traffic, clouds of smoke all around, helicopters circling day and night. Welcome to the NATO summit, April 3-4, 2009 in Strasbourg. More »
Did you see me?
For the of Karlsruhe, it was the largest sports event of the year: The Special Olympics National Summer Games 2008 were held in June under the motto “That’s Moving.” More »
The sound of Saxony
This is where the sounds come from: Welcome to the “Saxon Piano Factory” in Seifhennersdorf. In 2007 alone, 200 employees built 4,111 instruments here. More »
Voice of the Dalits
In Hombegowda, a slum in Bangalore, the roof landscape seems almost picturesque: a patchwork quilt of cement panels and corrugated tin draped with drying laundry. In a community center, women with cheap pot-metal nose jewelry sing, “We will end the oppression / We will demand our rights from men and the government.” More »
Disabled champions
A biographical note: The photographer Eric Vazzoler grew up surrounded by disabled young people at a rehab center in the South of France. A rare transient disorder had left his father was unable to run or sit up. More »
Nonstop ballroom
With over 2,000 couples from 46 nations, the German Open Championships is one of the world’s largest dance contests. Amateurs and professionals, children and the elderly alike face off in the categories standard, Latin, and boogie-woogie. In August, 2008, Stuttgart’s Liederhalle convention center turned into one big ballroom. More »
Extreme stage show
“Corrotsia Metalla” played for the first time in June of 1985 and was immediately a cult favorite in the Soviet Union. The combo brought out ten albums despite being officially forbidden to perform live. For three years now, the trash-metal outfit has been permitted to stage concerts, but their songs – with Satanist and fascist lyrics – are denied radio play. Photos from a performance in Moscow in December, 2007. More »
Inmates
Eric Vazzoler has been photographing prisons and their residents in Europe and central Asia since 1986. To date 30 exhibitions have taken place in eight countries. A documentation of life in tightly closed spaces. More »
Trashrock in Moscow
A Moscow concert by the gothic trashrock cyber-metal band Plague Project. More »
The Thai Chinook
Warm winds are not a conspicuous feature of Minsk in winter. But knock on the door of 13A Kedyschko Street, and you’ll find a little piece of Thailand – the “Chinook.” More »
Impressions of Yangshuo
The Yangshuo district lies in the northwestern part of the autonomous region of Guangxi Zhuang, where the Li river snakes among nearly 20,000 karst peaks. The region’s unique beauty attracts more than 1,500,000 Chinese and foreign tourists each year – and the numbers are rising. Real estate is booming. Not only luxury hotels, but private homes as well are popping up like mushrooms at the expense of the landscape, while on the West Street tourist promenade, pimps ask men walking alone or in groups, “Beautiful sex massage?” – or with coarse forthrightness, “Fuck?” Prices are written on the palm of the hand. The girls, it is said, are sometimes no older than 14. More »
The people of Guangxi
A portrait series from a short trip to the Chinese province of Guangxi. More »