Sebastian Mölleken (born 1979) focuses on the relationship between uncommon landscapes, the living conditions associated with these places, and the personalities that they help to shape. His final degree project centred on the “A40” expressway, and consisted of a collection of poignant portraits and landscape photographs which formed an image of the entire region. Based on his interests, in 2010, he chose to explore the mining region of Garzweiler. He visited the mining area itself and the new and abandoned villages, and shot portraits of residents and RWE employees. The artist, who had never been to the area in person, was also surprised by the scale of the project. The massive excavators and abraded landscape, the strata of millions of years of geology – taken together, they make a beautiful and breathtaking scene. His images attest to an ambivalence between destruction and beauty, between departure and new beginnings. #VISIT2010
–> Website of Sebastian Mölleken
