We Are Making A New World # 01 Photograph

Born to an Anglo-Irish mother and a Sudeten-German father in Wiesbaden, Germany, Scholz grew up in a bilingual family home, dividing his time between Ireland and Germany. After his formative years, Scholz studied photography at the Technological University Dublin (TUD) under the tutelage of Dr. Anthony Haughey, developing a keen interest in visual narratives. Scholz then relocated to London, United Kingdom, undertaking postgraduate studies at Goldsmiths College, University of London, where he deepened his understanding of critical and contemporary art-making theories and practices under the mentorship of several Turner Prize–winning artists including Dr. Elizabeth Price, Grayson Perry, Mark Leckey, and Laure Prouvost. Using both 19th-century and modern photographic techniques, I aim to innovate in terms of sustainable photographic printing practices and processes considering the emerging climate crisis, and to push technical, creative as well as conceptual boundaries. I create images in response to specific sites and my practice concerns the connections between humans, nature, and the wider environment. I investigate processes of deep time in terms of geology; and immediate impulses caused by adverse weather and a warming climate. Recording change is crucial to my practice and I try to make that evident in all my images. I work in collaboration with the elements at each site, whether seawater, rain, wind, or plant specimens. Sunlight and soil help me create an inner world that connects to my viewers. I like my work to stimulate conversations that I engage with, and that enables me to develop as an individual.