Merzmensch - Photokarma

From the series: NeoreAIlism
Paper: Hahnemühle Fine Art Archival Print
Sheet size: 40 × 40 cm with 1 cm white border around the motif.
Year: Edition of 2025
Edition: 3 + 1 AP
Signed, dated and edition numbered by the artist on a separate label.

Merzmensch – Photokarma

What happens when you take a picture – and at the same time you are being photographed?

In Photokarma, Merzmensch plays a double-edged game with perspective, authority, and photography's ancient promise to capture reality. Two men in classic suits stand in a narrow alley, both with cameras in hand. The one in front sits in a crouching position, focused, with an old-fashioned viewfinder. The one behind, seemingly casually, raises his smartphone—or is it a mirror? Who's photographing whom?

The scene looks like a still from a noir film, but it is artificially constructed—in keeping with the Neorealism series, which explores the possibilities of "invented documentary photography." The patina of the wall, the folds of the clothing, the gesture of seeing—everything seems historical. But there are cracks in the illusion. Small fractures through which the concept shines.

Photokarma is a picture about the picture. About the giving and receiving of attention, of power, of gazes. About a visual equilibrium that is never entirely stable. Here, the camera becomes an ethical figure: whoever sees is seen. Whoever records becomes part of the story.

The title is a clue: every photographic act bears traces, consequences, an imprint in the invisible. The image as karma.