Under the title #SHOTBYADAMS, the Hessian State Museum in Darmstadt is exhibiting selected works from Bryan Adams' impressive photographic oeuvre. The works come from four of the photographer's best-known series:
Parallel to his success as a singer and songwriter, Bryan Adams has pursued a highly successful career as a photographer since the 1990s and has received numerous awards for his work. In the series #SHOTBYADAMS, he photographed numerous friends, celebrities, and superstars, including Julianne Moore, Ben Kingsley, Amy Winehouse, and Mick Jagger. It is impressive how Bryan Adams directs these portrait shoots. Nothing seems to escape his eye. The subjects reveal themselves to him in sometimes egocentric poses and are completely in their element. They leave no doubt that they had great fun during the photo sessions.
But Bryan Adams is much more than a photographer of famous personalities from the glamorous world of entertainment. He also devotes himself to real-life stories and destinies of our present day. A significant example of this is the series WOUNDED: THE LEGACY OF WAR. It shows young British soldiers who have returned from missions in Afghanistan and Iraq with mutilated limbs, prostheses, and burn scars. The subjects look dignifiedly into his camera. They are marked by the consequences of the war mission that radically changed their lives.
Amy Winehouse, Armani dress, Los Angeles, 2007 © Bryan Adams
With his HOMELESS series, Bryan Adams turns his attention to those who live on the margins of society: his portraits show people without a permanent home in London who sell the homeless magazine "The Big Issue." With compassion and respect, he raises awareness of their plight while emphasizing the inestimable value of each individual. In the IN COLOUR series, Bryan Adams has added an artistic component to selected portraits. Using a sophisticated process, he combines the photographs with individually tailored colors printed on Plexiglas, giving the photographs an additional aesthetic and atmospheric dimension.
With the exhibition #SHOTBYADAMS, the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt continues its series of photo exhibitions that began in 2021. Following Peter Lindbergh, Walter Schels, and Candida Höfer, Bryan Adams is now the fourth significant photographer whose outstanding work can be admired in Darmstadt.
March 20 to June 21, 2026
