Damien Schumann

Damien Schumann found his interest in photography while working and travelling through the Middle East and Asia (2001 - 2003). He bought his first camera just before entering Burma and shot his first rolls of film in an orphanage in a Buddhist monastery while hiding from immigration. These images became his first published work on returning to Thailand.

Schumann returned to South Africa and in late 2003 set out to put a face to emerging Africa. To do this he hitchhiked from Cape Town (South Africa) to Ramalla (Palestine) - eating, sleeping, travelling and simply being as the average person does in the given area. Balala, his first exhibition was launched on his return. Recognition of this show lead to a scholarship to study photography at the Ruth Prowse School of Art in Cape Town.
With the intention of merging documentary photography, his interest with people and the arts, Schumann started structuring his methodology of work over this time.

By his final year of studying he was working with NGOs to build exhibitions for Advocacy, Communications and Social Mobilization purposes - still his primary focus today with clients including World Health Organisation, Desmond Tutu TB Centre and Project Concern International.
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