Artist in Residence
Hinnerk Bodendieck: November 2011
Hinnerk Bodendieck was born in Hamburg in 1965. From 1988 to 1996 he studied at the School for Applied Arts in Hamburg. During this period he also spent two years living and studying in Madrid.
Since 1996, Hinnerk has participated in various group exhibitions including Horizons, Perspectives at the Museum of the History of Hamburg 2001 and several shows at Galerie Drum. He has had a number of solo exhibitions including Ships at Burgkloster zu Lubeck, and Open Studio in Altonaer Museum Hamburg in 2004.
Hinnerk has been a guest professor at the School for Applied Science (formerly called Applied Arts) in Hamburg since 1999. He also does illustrations for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Hinnerk has a passion for the sea and sailing, and these subjects have inspired many of his works. In 2010, he was invited by a local Hamburg council to document through painting the nightlife of the Sankt Pauli quarter and its infamous red light district. So began a year of intense nocturnal work and encounters with a wilder, darker, yet very human, side of life.
Hinnerk first visited Lamu in February 2011 as part of the Lamu Painter’s Festival. He was profoundly affected by his first experience of Africa, and the very unique character of Lamu. He is delighted to have the opportunity to return to the island in November 2011, and work there again.
The Lamu Book: Stories meet Images
The painter Hinnerk Bodendieck, and the author Priya Basil, have been invited by the Lamu Artist in Residence Program to collaborate on a book about Lamu. A book that will contain no photos – only paintings that capture the spirit of Lamu, accompanied by a narrative that tells a bigger story through the personal tales of Lamu’s inhabitants.
Starting in November 2011, the two artists will travel around the island and the surrounding archipelago, visiting villages and meeting locals. They will select themes and issues to focus on, Priya putting everything into words and Hinnerk capturing it all with paint.
The result will be a book that crosses many genres: part travel-guide, travelogue, history, memoir, non-fiction, art book…. The hope is that this multi-layered approach will convey the richness and complexity of Lamu’ s culture and people.
