Ellen von Unwerth was born in Germany in the mid 1950’s.
She worked in a circus as assisstant
to the knife thrower and worked
as a model for ten years after being discovered walking down the street in her native Munich. Von Unwerth’s work is published in American, Italian, and British Vogue, Interview, and Vanity Fair.
Her books include “Snaps”, “Couples”, and “Wicked”.
In her unflinchingly erotic photographs, von Unwerth explores the vocabulary
of the brothel and
its inhabitants: the wrinkled sheets, filmy curtains, black sockings,
auto-eroticism, and the air
of depravity. But her work is also characterized by the fun and games of contemporary life in the fast lane.
