portfolio.

Faces of Europe is a cultural project selected by and in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

Over a five-month period, the Düsseldorf initiator and photo artist Carsten Sander travelled through every European member state with a media-equipped motor home. This photo project portrays one thousand people of different ethnicities and social backgrounds from all EU member states. Rich and poor, young and old, celebrities, athletes and politicians, chance encounters on the street — all on equal terms, side by side. Showing one’s face coincides here with showing one’s attitude. Sander looks for what connects and distinguishes by means of photos and statements that show the personal significance of Europe. This creates a post-national panorama of European horizons of experience and their common values.

We strongly believe that Sander’s Faces of Europe idea, motivation and vision matches with our philosophy. We also created a documentary accompanying the artist’s journey through all countries of the European Union during those unique and difficult times Europe and the World are facing in 2020 / 2021.

With his portraits Sander shows people in the here and now. This way, he succeeds in showing the common denominator in people of different origins and social classes: They are citizens of Europe who stand up for peace, common values, and collective action. The vision of the project is that, based on these encounters, a passive civic center for the endangered European idea will be mobilized.