Sebastian Backhaus
‍
MITOSIS
Weserstr. 165
12045 Berlin
Germany

Germany: +49 176 21 82 14 14
Iraq: +964 75 15 34 39 48
hello@photo-backhaus.com


I am Sebastian Backhaus, a photographer specialising in the Middle East. During my travels in 2013, I discovered photography while political unrest shook Cairo. Before taking photos, I ran a nightclub and managed a child and youth welfare organisation.

I photograph where oppression and suffering govern. I believe that the collection and publishing of such photographic evidence could help improve the lives of those inhabiting such realities. To me, it is also important to portray life beyond the frontlines, where civil society functions, and where paths from discord and destruction are to be found outside the machinations of international politics. Through this, I seek to break down war zone stereotypes created by the mass media.

Further, I am driven by the need for exploration, leaving behind my Berlin bubble to discover. I am interested in the full diversity of encounters, and in getting to know us at our most brutal and most compassionate.