1000 Siegen Portraits
Project archive: This page documents an early stage of Thomas Kellner’s Facets of the City after August Sander. The project was completed in 2026 with 1,056 portraits, representing one percent of Siegen’s population.
Thomas Kellner’s Third Project about Siegen and the Siegerland
Siegen. In 2023, Thomas Kellner began working on the third part of his trilogy about Siegen and the Siegerland, turning his attention to the people who live or work in the city. Following his projects on the half-timbered houses of the Siegerland, previously photographed by Bernd and Hilla Becher, and on the region’s historic chapel schools, Kellner turned to the people of Siegen for the third part of the trilogy. Over the course of the project, Kellner created a photographic portrait of Siegen’s society comprising 1,056 people — a visual microcensus representing one percent of the city’s population. In their formal language and use of color, the portraits relate to Kellner’s earlier photographs of the half-timbered houses, creating a visual connection between the first and third parts of the trilogy. In spring 2024, marking the 60th anniversary of August Sander’s death and the 800th anniversary of the city of Siegen, a first selection from the project was presented at the Art Galerie Siegen. Kellner continued photographing participants until the project was completed in 2026 with 1,056 portraits.
Even at this early stage, the portraits reflected a broad cross-section of Siegen’s society. Participants included schoolchildren and students, craftspeople, medical professionals, teachers, artists, entrepreneurs, employees and retirees. This diversity of professions, generations and social backgrounds already anticipated the project’s aim of creating a contemporary portrait of society.
August Sander and the Portrait of Society
Thomas Kellner’s project refers to August Sander (1876–1964), one of the most influential portrait photographers of the 20th century. In his monumental project *People of the 20th Century*, Sander sought to create a photographic portrait of society through people from different professions and social backgrounds. Kellner takes this idea as a historical point of reference for his own portrait of contemporary society in Siegen.
Siegen in Focus: Photographer Thomas Kellner's Tribute to the City's People
The project was conceived as a tribute to August Sander on the occasion of his 150th birthday in 2026. Thomas Kellner set out to portray one percent of the population of Siegen. Based on the city’s population of 105,579 inhabitants recorded on January 27, 2023, this resulted in a target of 1,056 people. The project was completed in 2026 with exactly 1,056 portraits, forming a visual microcensus of contemporary society in Siegen.
Cultural Diversity in Siegen
Cultural Diversity in SiegenCultural diversity became an important dimension of the project. Kellner portrayed people with different national and cultural backgrounds in order to reflect the diversity of contemporary Siegen. Rather than selecting individual personalities, the project sought to create a broad cross-section of society based on the city’s demographic structure.
Demographic Structure of Siegen
The selection of participants also took Siegen’s demographic structure into account. Age groups, educational backgrounds and different social circumstances were considered in order to create a broad representation of the city’s population. This statistical approach became an essential part of Kellner’s visual microcensus and distinguishes the project from a conventional collection of individual portraits.
