Wolfgang Tillmans didn’t own a camera until he was 20, had solo exhibitions of his photography anyway.

His name kind of gives it away, but Wolfgang was born in Germany. Today he is mostly known for his iconic photography, but to be honest, as a teen he never understood why people were even interested in photography. Trying to record something stands in the way of the actual experience right?

During a trip to England in 1983 he discovered British youth culture, flamboyant fashion and music zines. Oh and he also saw the band Culture Club perform, lucky him! In his own words, those years were “great years to grow up as a latently gay teenager”. Pop music was about sexual ambiguity, it wasn’t called ‘gay’, it was just stylish. Damn, I LOVE the 80s. It was all about making your own clothes so Wolfgang would wear a hat made of Perspex, which he melted in his mother’s oven. Around that time, Wolfgang had a steamy night with the keyboard player of Bronski Beat, another band that was super hip in the 80’s. So what? Well, he was only 16 years old!

Obviously Wolfgang wanted to move to London ASAP, but too bad for him it he wouldn't graduate till 1987. Also, there was still the draft in Germany which, you could avoid by doing twenty months of community service. Obviously, Wolfgang and his friends choose to move to the biggest city possible, Hamburg. (the Berlin wall wouldn't be demolished until 1989, so Berlin wasn't an option). For the first ten months he worked for a mobile social health service, stuff like giving people baths and doing chores at old peoples homes. After this first ten months his back was acting up (and he was also kind of sick of his boss) so he got transferred to operate the switchboard of another help organization. That’s where he started organizing his first exhibition, at the office he had unlimited access to a phone and photocopier. He exhibited the photocopies he made in his last year in high school Cafe Gnosa, a famous gay bar in Hamburg. Yeah that’s right, photocopies from existing photos, he still didn't own a camera!

In that same year Wolfgang and his friends started “to go out tons and take ecstasy” or maybe it was the other way round. The scene, the whole vibe, that was what he wanted to capture. He bought a cheap flash and took his new camera to the club. i-D magazine published his photos soon after that. After some year of being really successful with his clubbing pictures, he finally moved to England to study at the Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design. Did I tell you he had a huge soft spot for the English men?

After graduating he moved to his beloved London as fast as he could, only to move to New York two years later. In the Big Apple he met the love of his life, German painter Jochen Klein. He almost fixed himself a greencard, but right in time he realized he didn't want to become American. The couple moved back to England and stayed together until Jochen died of AIDS-related complications in 1997. Tragically they had no idea that he was ill until five weeks before he died. It took Wolgang until 2000 to really overcome his grief. It might have something to do with the fact that in 2000 he was the first photographer and also the first non-English person to be awarded the Turner Prize. The Turner Prize is one of the best-known visual arts prizes, handed out by Tate.

2016 was a pretty good year for Wolfgang; still the center of attention but in a different way. Have you heard the new Franck Ocean album? There’s this strange German voice talking about cell phones at the end of the intro right? Well that’s Wolfgang, it’s a sample from his EP "Device Control" that came out September 16. Besides making music, in 2016 Wolfgang also modeled for the “anarchic” (what?) fashion label Hood By Air. You could find him strutting the runway for the brand’s SS17 show! Walk, Walk, Fashion Baby!