Bio­gra­phy

Vero Bie­lin­ski is a Ger­man Pho­to­gra­pher, of Polish heri­tage. She has been inte­res­ted in pho­to­gra­phy since her childhood days. Toge­ther with her sis­ter, the two of them used their father’s photo and came­ras and shot end­less movies and pho­tos. The­re­fore, no other way of life was an option.

In 2013 Vero Bie­lin­ski gra­dua­ted from the Darm­stadt Uni­ver­sity of Applied Sci­en­ces with a degree in com­mu­ni­ca­tion design. She stu­died under the tutelage of award-winning pho­to­gra­pher and pro­fes­sor Michael Kerst­gens. The hono­rary pro­fes­sor Bar­bara Klemm also con­veyed her valu­able impul­ses. During her stu­dies Bie­lin­ski spent the prac­tical semes­ter in New York City assis­ting pho­to­gra­pher Ken Schles. In addi­tion she stu­died 6 months at the Aca­demy of Fine Arts in Kraków, Poland. Through these expe­ri­en­ces Bie­lin­ski was able to expand upon her alre­ady exis­ting foun­da­tion in the arts. While in Kraków Bie­lin­ski focu­sed on pain­ting and print-making. Gai­ning skills and recei­ving expo­sure to the tra­di­tio­nal methods and tech­ni­ques of old Renais­sance mas­ters. In NYC she was given the oppor­tu­nity to work and learn from renow­ned pho­to­graph­ers, most nota­bly Robert Frank. In her prac­tice, Bie­lin­ski tra­vels several months per year around the world to create pho­to­gra­phic series. Her empa­the­tic cha­risma and trust­ful way allow her to create approachable, raw, and honest por­traits. Mostly, she docu­ments various sub-cultures and the beau­ti­ful people that par­ti­ci­pate in them and is able to enter what may other­wise be a clo­sed com­mu­nity to outs­iders. The urban space is her stage to cap­ture the won­ders of rea­lity. In 2015 the Ker­ber Ver­lag publis­hed her suc­cess­ful pho­to­book Brook­lyn Hips­ters. Since 2012 Vero Bie­lin­ski has been working as an inter­na­tio­nal free­lance pho­to­gra­pher. Her work has been exhi­bi­ted in many shows and awar­ded nume­rous prizes.

Her approach is not to create sta­ged pho­tos and pho­to­shop them, but to depict rea­lity. “The rea­lity is crazy enough!” says the pho­to­gra­pher. Bielinski’s pho­to­gra­phy is pure, emo­tio­nal and real. The pho­to­gra­pher atta­ches par­ti­cu­lar import­ance to access to the people she por­trays. Her style shows a play bet­ween expe­ri­men­tal and docu­men­tary pho­to­gra­phy. She always mana­ges to walk through the world with open­ness and to con­vey com­plex con­tent with her spe­cial nar­ra­tive way. “I love to fol­low my instincts, to work crea­tively and to make people visi­ble how I see them”, says Bie­lin­ski. No won­der that famous actors and musi­ci­ans really app­re­ciate Bielinski’s way of cap­tu­ring per­so­na­li­ties. Empa­thy and intui­tion play an immense role in the art of the pho­to­gra­pher. The focus is always on people. Every photo ses­sion is a gift for the artist. “You never stop learning. I get expe­ri­ence so many new things. I am gra­te­ful for that.” With her uni­que style, she gives each photo, whe­ther in color or black and white, its own distinction.

Cur­ri­cu­lum Vitae
1988 born in Bad Hom­burg vor der Höhe, Hesse, Germany
2008–2013 stu­dies of com­mu­ni­ca­tion design with a focus on pho­to­gra­phy, Darm­stadt Uni­ver­sity of Applied Sciences
2011 semes­ter abroad stu­dy­ing Renais­sance pain­ting and gra­phic design at the Jan Mate­jko Aca­demy of Fine Arts in Kra­kow, Poland
2012 prac­tical semes­ter with photo artist Ken Schles in New York City, USA
2012– free­lance photo artist
Vero Bie­lin­ski lives and works in Bad Hom­burg vor der Höhe, Hesse, Germany
Exhi­bi­ti­ons (G = Group exhi­bi­tion, S = Solo show)
2021 „Making Frank­furt” (G): „Lock­down Por­traits”, out­door show, Frank­furt am Main, Germany
„Lock­down Por­traits” (S), out­door show, Gus­tavs­gar­ten Bad Hom­burg, Germany
„Inter­na­tio­nal pho­to­gra­phy com­pe­ti­tion 2021” (G): Lock­down Por­traits, Flo­rida Museum Of Pho­to­gra­phic Arts, Tampa, USA
2020 „Diver­sity” (S), Heus­sen­stamm Gal­lery, Frank­furt am Main, Germany
2019 „Diver­sity“ (S): a pro­ject about team spi­rit, DLZ Tau­nus Spar­kasse, Bad Hom­burg, Germany
„Vero Bie­lin­ski“ (S): por­traits of Ger­man actors rea­ding lite­ra­ture, Kur­haus Bad Hom­burg, Germany
„Vero Bie­lin­ski“ (S): por­traits of Ger­man actors rea­ding lite­ra­ture, Stei­gen­ber­ger Hotel, Bad Hom­burg, Germany
2018 „Brook­lyn Hips­ters Cha­rity Gala“ (S), cha­rity party, w-tec AG, Bad Hom­burg, Germany
2017 „Sli­de­luck“ (G): „Gen­der­Gen­der – Diver­sity“ (scree­ning), Con­tact Gal­lery, Toronto, Canada
2016 „Paris Photo“ (G): „Brook­lyn Hips­ters“ (photo book exhi­bi­tion at Kerber’s booth), Grand Palais, Paris, France
„Athen Pho­to­fes­ti­val“ (G), „Brook­lyn Hips­ters“ (photo book exhi­bi­tion only), Benaki Museum, Greece
„Brigh­ton Photo Fringe“ (G): „Brook­lyn Hips­ters“ (street art scree­ning), Brigh­ton, United Kingdom
„Brook­lyn Hips­ters“ (S), Gothic House, Bad Hom­burg, Germany
„Vero Bie­lin­ski: Zwi­schen Hips­ter und Stil­le­ben“ (S): port­fi­lio show, Kunst­halle Colum­bus Art Foun­da­tion, Ravens­burg, Germany
„Brook­lyn Hips­ters“ (S), muzeum foto­gra­fii, Byd­goszcz, Poland
„Brook­lyn Hips­ters“ (S), simul­ta­neously photo book exhi­bi­tion, best­re­gARTs Gal­lery, Frank­furt am Main, Germany
„Women Of The World“ (G), con­cert pho­to­gra­phies of female per­for­mers, MyZeil, Frank­furt am Main, Germany
2015 „SeeMe Sli­de­show“ (G): „Brook­lyn Hips­ters“, Lou­vre, Paris, France
„Athen Pho­to­fes­ti­val“ (G): „Brook­lyn Hips­ters“, Short­list, Benaki Museum, Greece
„Weit­sicht Foto­fes­ti­val“ (G): „Jun­ges Gemüse – Brook­lyn Hips­ters“, Sci­ence and Con­gress Cen­ter, Darm­stadt, Germany
2014 „Noor­der­licht Inter­na­tio­nal Photo Fes­ti­val – An Ocean of Pos­si­bi­li­ties“ (G): „Brook­lyn Hips­ters“, House of Pho­to­gra­phy, Lee­uwar­den, Netherlands
„SCOPE Art Miami“ (G): „Brook­lyn Hips­ters“ (scree­ning), Scope Art Deco Cen­ter, Miami, USA
2013– Con­cert pho­to­gra­phies at the „Sto­rage“ (Spei­cher), Kul­tur­bahn­hof, Bad Hom­burg, Germany
2013 „Der Stand der Dinge (G)“: por­traits of sun­day school stu­dents, annual exhi­bi­tion at the design depart­ment of the Darm­stadt Uni­ver­sity of Applied Sci­en­ces, Darm­stadt, Germany
„Lon­don, New York & The Hips­ters“ (S), Crea­tive Car­ree, Frank­furt am Main, Germany
„Visio­nale“ (G): „dEFOR­MA­TION“ (video, short­list scree­ning), Gal­lus Thea­ter, Frank­furt am Main, Germany
2012 „Lumi­nale Frank­furt“ (G): „Shine, shine, shine“ (video), best­re­gARTs Gal­lery, Frank­furt am Main, Germany
„End­zeit“ (G): „Melan­cho­lia“, PENG, Mainz, Germany
„Darm­städ­ter Tage der Foto­gra­fie“ (G): „dEFOR­MA­TION“ (video), Desi­gn­haus Darm­stadt, Darm­stadt, Germany
„Sizi­lien“ (S), Prinz von Hom­burg, Bad Hom­burg, Germany
2011 „Kids Of Cam­bo­dia“ (S), Sem­per Felix, Kraków, Poland
2010 „Sehens­wert“ (G), Hes­sian Minis­try for Sci­ence and Art, Wies­ba­den, Germany
„Ein­sicht“ (S), Hes­sian Minis­try for Sci­ence and Art, Wies­ba­den, Germany
Pri­zes
2021 Inter­na­tio­nal pho­to­gra­phy com­pe­ti­tion 2021, 2nd place in the „con­cep­tual“ cate­gory, Flo­rida Museum Of Pho­to­gra­phic Arts, Tampa, USA
Inter­na­tio­nal Photo Awards (IPA), hono­r­able men­tion for „Lock­down Por­trait Loneliness“
2017 New Talent Award by Canon / Pro­fi­Foto (best of 50), „Fuck Gen­der“, shortlist
2014 World Pho­to­gra­phy Orga­ni­sa­tion, „Split Second“ award in the „sin­gle image por­trait“ cate­gory, Somer­set House, Lon­don, United Kingdom
Publi­ca­ti­ons
2020 Vero Bie­lin­ski: „Lock­down Por­traits“, hufmagazine.com/lockdown-portraits/
Bernd Hoff­mann / Vero Bie­lin­ski: „10 Jahre Poe­sie & Lite­ra­tur­fes­ti­val“, Societäts-Verlag, Frank­furt am Main 2020, ISBN 978–3955423445
2015 Vero Bie­lin­ski: „Brook­lyn Hips­ters“, Ker­ber Ver­lag, Bie­le­feld 2015, ISBN 978–3735601773
Biblio­gra­phy (excerpts)
2021 Anony­mus: „Diver­sity“, vivart.de/news/news-artikel/diversity (2/2/2021)
2020 Björn Berndt: „,diver­sity‘ von Vero Bie­lin­ski“, maenner.media/regional/gab/diversity-von-vero-bielinski/ (12/10/2020)
2019 ks: „Zehn Jahre Poe­sie­fes­ti­val in zahl­rei­chen Schwarz-Weiß-Fotos“, in: Bad Hom­bur­ger Woche No. 23, 6/6/2019, p. 5; like­wise taunus-nachrichten.de/bad-homburg/nachrichten/ (6/5/2019)
Mark Mal­lon: „Valo piir­tää hur­mok­sen”, in: Särö Maga­zine 38–39 (2020), pp. 26–47
2018 Mela­nie Bauer: „Bank setzt voll auf hippe Typen“, in: Frank­fur­ter Neue Presse, 3/3/2018, p. 22, like­wise fnp.de/rhein-main/bank-setzt-voll-hippe-typen-10422684.html (3/3/2018)
Johanna Müdi­cken: „Neue Unter­neh­mens­kul­tur“, in: Top Maga­zin Frank­furt, 3 (2018), p. 106f.
2017 Astrid Ber­g­ner: „Vero, das ist die mit den blon­den Haa­ren und der Kamera“, in: Bad Hom­bur­ger Woche resp. Fried­richs­dor­fer Woche, No. 16, 4/20/2017, p. 10
Ilse Romahn: „Brook­lyn Hips­ters brin­gen über 3.000 Euro für die Stif­tung KINDER LACHEN“, lifepr.de/pressemitteilung/taunus-sparkasse/ (4/11/2017), like­wise frankfurt-live.com/ (4/12/2017)
2016 ahi: „Hipster-Schau wird ver­län­gert“, in: Tau­nus Zei­tung, 12/26/2016, p. 11
Mar­tina Dreis­bach: „Hips­ter im Goti­schen Haus“, in: Tau­nus Zei­tung, 11/23/2016, p. 10
a.ber: „Die Brook­lyn Hips­ters in den Mit­tel­punkt gerückt“, in: Bad Hom­bur­ger Woche bzw. Fried­richs­dor­fer Woche, No. 44, 11/3/2016, p. 16
aw: „Geballte Kul­tur in einer Nacht“, in: Tau­nus Zei­tung ‚10/27/2016, p. 9
hw: „Die Welt der Brook­lyn Hips­ters mit der Kamera ein­ge­fan­gen“, in: Bad Hom­bur­ger Woche resp. Fried­richs­dor­fer Woche, No. 43, 10/27/2016, p. 13
Kha­dija Ahmed: „Cap­tu­ring the death of the Brook­lyn hips­ter. The end of hisp­ter­dom?“, huckmag.com/art-and-culture/capturing-death-brooklyn-hipster/ (10/24/2016)
Anony­mus: „Vero Bie­lin­ski. Brook­lyn hips­ters“, cojestgrane24.wyborcza.pl/ (4/16/2016)
Anony­mus: „Pod­wójny wer­ni­saż: ‚Brook­lyn Hips­ters‘ i ‚Dwa spo­jr­ze­nia‘“, apk.wsg.byd.pl/id,899/ (4/2016)
AnKa­Kron­mül­ler: „Beson­dere Bücher zum Welt­frau­en­tag“, https://kerber-blog.com/buecher-zum-weltfrauentag/ (3/8/2016)
Anony­mus: „People: Vero Bie­lin­ski, Foto­gra­fin“, in: FRIZZ Das Maga­zin, Frank­furt. March 2016, p. 17
Svenja Goebel: „Ein Buch für Hips­ter“, schnitzel-und-schminke.de/buecher/ein-buch-fuer-hipster/ (2/22/2016)
San­dro Abbate: „Hin­ter der Hipster-Maske“, novelero.de/hinter-der-hipster-maske/ (2/16/2016)
Anony­mus: „New York – Die Wiege der Hips­ter“, zeit.de/zeit-magazin/mode-design/2016–01/hipsters-brookyln-new-york-fs (2/4/2016)
Muriel Larissa Frank: „Die Vero mit der Kamera“, in: Tau­nus Zei­tung, 1/13/2016, p. 10
2015 Anony­mus: „Ker­ber Ver­lag: Vero Bie­lin­ski – Brook­lyn Hips­ters“, profifoto.de/szene/ (12/10/2015)
2014 Hes­ter Key­ser: „Vero Bie­lin­ski: ‚In the future It will be har­der and har­der to be or to feel indi­vi­dual in our world.‘“, old.noorderlicht.com/en/up-to-date/blog/ (10/9/2014)
Anony­mus: „Sub­cul­tures – Vero Bie­lin­ski. Brook­lyn Hips­ters“, old.noorderlicht.com/nl/archief/vero-bielinski/ (8/2014)
Luis Reiß: „Geballte Krea­ti­vi­tät“, in: Frank­fur­ter Rundschau/Stadtteile, 3/20/2013
2012–2019 Photo Gal­lery for the w-festival, w-festival.de/media/
Videos
2021 Vero Bie­lin­ski / Tho­mas Gel­lert: Vero Bie­lin­ski Diver­sity Pho­to­gra­phy Show, vimeo.com/504134487 (2/2021)
#esist­frei­tag: „Frei­tags Fra­gen mit Joanna & Vero Bie­lin­ski“, youtube.com/watch?v=tKB08sQv0YY (2/26/2021)
2016 Vero: Pho­to­book Release Brook­lyn Hips­ters Vero Bie­lin­ski, https://vimeo.com/153670821 (2016)

Vero Bie­lin­ski

Sear­ching for the won­ders of rea­lity, showing what is there, is the chal­lenge that ful­fills me the most. When loo­king at a pic­ture, it is essen­tial to con­vey fee­lings or the emer­gence of emo­ti­ons, which are lin­ked to our lives by memo­ries. It exci­tes me to look for and find rep­re­sen­ta­ti­ves for my sto­ries. Eit­her catch them in instan­ta­neous situa­ti­ons or deal inten­si­vely with them. Empa­thy and intui­tion play an immense role in my art. The focus is always on people. As far as pos­si­ble, I deal with new sub­cul­tures and trend deve­lop­ments of the youn­ger gene­ra­ti­ons. My style is honest, rough and real.