Marc Ohrem-Leclef
Semifinalist
Stockbridge Fine Art Print Award
MVS Project Review Award
Marc Ohrem-Leclef (b. 1971 Düsseldorf, Germany, l. Brooklyn, NY) has a BA in Communication Design from Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, Germany. He led a commercial photography studio in New York City for 15 years. Ohrem-Leclef’s work has been exhibited and screened in the US and abroad, including at the Houston Center for Photography, TX; NYU Deutsches Haus, New York, NY; The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA; Seattle International Film Festival, WA; as well as the neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst and Kunstraum Kreuzberg, both Berlin, Germany; BredaPhoto, Netherlands; Clark House Initiative, Mumbai, India; and Museo de Arte do Rio and Festival do Rio de Janeiro, both Brazil. His work is held in the collections of and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Library, New York, NY; and Museo de Arte do Rio, Brazil. Ohrem-LeClef has been a MacDowell Fellow and was a Finalist for the Aperture Portfolio Prize in 2022. He has been published in Artforum, The Atlantic, British Journal of Photography, The Caravan, Der Spiegel, M-LeMonde, The New Yorker, Out, Slate and Whistling in the Dark. He has lectured at City University of New York, Columbia University, the New School, Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts and the State University of New York, all New York. Ohrem-Leclef teaches at the International Center of Photography (ICP).
Statement from the Artist:
I explore themes of identity and belonging, in particular where their mainstream representations perpetuate inequalities. His practice manifests in long-term, collaborative projects that move between documentary and performative modes to propose and construct alternative representations and narratives.
In Zameen Aasman Ka Farq (As far apart as the Earth is from the Sky), I contemplate affections between Indian men. Physical touch offers a window into the meanings of friendship, love, sexuality and queerness. Through a dialogue between photographs and text, the work aims to visualize the many dimensions that love takes on for my collaborators, from the open and socially accepted to the unspoken.
The decade-long work comprises a short film and 5,000+ transcript pages, recorded across 23 Indian states and written in 19 languages.