Karin Apollonia Müller was born in Heidelberg in 1963, and grew up as the
daughter of a sea captain. She studied design Photography and Film at the
University of Essen and received a Masters degree with honors in photography
in 1992. Since 1995 she has spent much of her time living in the Western
United States supported initially by a DAAD fellowship and later by the
Getty and the Lannan Foundation. Müller's first completely realized body
of work and monograph is entitled Angels in Fall, series of large
scale color photographs of urban Los Angeles and Western oceanside landscapes.
These quiet observations investigate the space where people and urban structures
meet natiure. Her powerful photographs have a muted palette and low in contrast.
By juxtaposing the human figure (actual or implied) subtly positioned within
a complex landscape, the images evoke a sense of displacement. The compositions
are subtle and evocative, possessing a haunting potency. As a foreigner,
Müller's "visitor" status in Los Angeles is expressed by a sense of alienation
and beauty. Müller's interest in the intersection of the natural landscape
with urbanization is a hot topic with environmentalists and city planners,
but in her hands the issues transcend any analytic framework and become
eternal and universal musings. In addition to her work in the United States,
Muller has worked and taught in Germany, Italy, Western China and more recently
Los Angeles.
A second monograph entitled On Edge was published by Nazraeli Press in
2009.
Timber Cove 2009 [view
images]
On Edge 2006-08 [view
images]
Bunkerscapes 2003 [view
images]
Angels in Fall 1995-1998 [view
images]
Seascapes 1996-2002 [view
images]