THE AIDS MEMORIAL
AN INTERVIEW WITH GERMAN ARTIST DIRK H. WILMS

“I grew up in a picture of Joel-Peter Witkin. Even in school I felt alienated and isolated. But when my art teacher found out that I collect calendars with pictures by Magritte, Matisse or Ernst, he encouraged my inborn talent and brought me small catalogs of famous painters and photographers and allowed me to study them in the class after school. He took me seriously. I had hidden things inside me that I never dared to show, and I think he knew that.”

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A BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
HOW ART SAVED MY LIFE

“I remember very well the carefree days in my life, when I awoke shortly after the sunrise, to catch some new moods with my camera on the beaches of the North Sea. I loved those days there by the sea, running barefoot through the sands, feeling the warmth and the easiness. I loved to be outside in nature, and to be by the sea in particular. Even as a child I felt this strong affinity with the sea. It was a perfect life, it was my perfect life, and it should never end.”

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