Michael Wolf is a 60-year-old German photojournalist living in Hong Kong. In a recent interview, he describes his various projects in capturing the lives of the millions who call Asian megacities home.
Describing Michael Wolf's photos as "both a fascinating glimpse of how humanity lives now as well as a sort of eternal ode to innovation," Julian Morgans interviews Wolf about the process and politics of his photos of megacities in Asia.
Wolf has produced images that capture the intimidating and frightening nature of megacities, as well as their almost shocking beauty. Among his projects are a photo series called The Architecture of Density, which creates a tapestry out of the overwhelming symmetry and repetition of Hong Kong residential high rises. Another project, 100x100, photographed 100 soon-to-be-demolished apartments in Hong Kong—each measuring ten feet by ten feet.
When asked whether he believes 25 million people should be living together in such tight urban quarters, Wolf replies: "if you talk to people superficially, they always say their apartment complexes are so convenient. You take the elevator and you have a shopping mall, a subway station, and a school. But if you get to know them and dig deeper, every single person would like to live on a smaller scale. Maybe in a smaller house in the countryside."
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