Roger Gaess
is a Belgian-American photographer, an ex-New Yorker currently living in Brussels. His work — from fine art to photojournalism — has appeared widely in a range of outlets and forms.
He has been in numerous gallery shows in Europe and the U.S., including a solo exhibit at The French House in London (2017).
His photos are in a number of museum and private collections, such as the Kinsey Institute’s art and photography collection at Indiana University (U.S.) and the Rolla Foundation, in Bruzella, Switzerland.
His images are in several major book collections — including Erotic Photography (2001) and Erotic Women in Photographs (2005), both published by Constable & Robinson in London, Carroll & Graf in New York and Éditions Blanche in Paris. New York’s Whitney Museum of Modern Art issued one of his dance photographs as a poster.
His photography has been featured in print and online periodicals such as Le Monde diplomatique (Paris), Private (France/Italy) and Secret (Brussels).
He has become increasingly known for his psychologically dark images and explorations of cultural minorities.
In recent years, he’s centered his work on extended personal projects. In addition to the “No-Country” series (115+ images; in progress), others include “The Dark Sisters,” a work inspired by Symbolist themes of the later 19th century and centered on “the dead cities” of Bruges and Ghent, in Belgium; “They Will Be Nameless: From brass thru Bethlehem,” a 92-image look at a defining slice of the U.S. Rust Belt and what it’s become in the wake of the region’s industrial demise; the 72-image “Venice Fatale,” a journey through the eerier aspects of Venice; and “New York Raw” (77 images), on the New York fetish underground during 1999-2006. All these are in black & white. Another project (in both b&w and color) comprises a 12-year-long look at ultra football (soccer) fans in the New York area.
His recent awards include nominations across four categories (including two honorable mentions) in the international Black & White Spider Awards. He was a winner in Black & White (U.S.) magazine’s single-image contest.
He also does stock photography for Getty Images (Seattle, U.S.) and Millennium Images (London), and his work has appeared in many Lonely Planet travel guides. He was earlier associated with the Gamma Liaison and Middle East Photo agencies.
He has an MFA degree (in writing and film criticism) from Columbia University in New York.