Sebastian Wells (b. 1996, based between Berlin and Kyiv) merges documentary photography, writing, and publishing to investigate power structures, political staging and cultural production.
A member of
As co-founder of
Press
Books
| 2026 | Arena, Take 1: Facing the Spectacle, Spector Books, 2026 |
Selected Exhibitions
| 2026 | Group Exhibition, Berlin on Camera - 100 Years of Photography and the Press, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Berlin |
| 2026 | Solo Exhibition, ARENA, Galerie Springer, Berlin |
| 2024 | Solo Exhibition, Typ/Traube/Tross, Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin |
| 2024 | Solo Exhibition, La Rada di Augusta, Galerie Focale, Nyon |
| 2024 | Solo Exhibition, Eine Sportschau, Institut français, Berlin |
| 2023 | Group Exhibition, A Garden Of Roots, HSBI WERKSCHAU 2023, Bielefeld |
| 2022 | Artist Talk and Group Exhibition, Solomiya № 1, Galerie Springer, Berlin |
| 2022 | Group Exhibition, Kontinent, OSTKREUZ Agentur, Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, Frankfurt |
| 2021 | Group Exhibition, Kontinent, OSTKREUZ Agentur, Kunsthalle Erfurt |
| 2021 | Solo Exhibition, La Rada di Augusta, Artphilein Foundation, Lugano |
| 2020 | Group Exhibition, Kontinent, OSTKREUZ Agentur, Akademie der Künste, Berlin |
| 2020 | Group Exhibition, Framing Identity, Museum for Photography, Braunschweig |
| 2019 | Solo Exhibition, Anhänger, Galerie Fenster, Eberswalde |
| 2018 | Group Exhibition, Olympia, at Lumix Festival, Hannover |
| 2018 | Group Exhibition, Sharing Spaces, Feldfuenf Project Gallery, Berlin |
Awards and Residencies
| 2025 | Grand Prix, Art Directors Club Germany |
| 2024 | Artist in Residence, Cité internationale des Arts, Paris |
| 2024 | Gold, Art Directors Club Germany |
| 2024 | Gold, Art Directors Club Europe |
| 2024 | Distinction, Joseph Binder Award, Vienna |
| 2023 | German Peace Prize for Photography, Osnabrück |
| 2023 | Nomination for the Story of the Year, Stern Preis 2023, Hamburg |
| 2023 | Portraits Hellerau Photography Award, Dresden |
| 2023 | Gold, Art Directors Club Germany |
| 2023 | Distinction, Art Directors Club Germany |
| 2023 | Bronze, Art Directors Club Europe |
| 2022 | Award of the Jury, Les Boutographies, Montpellier |
| 2019 | Finalist, Leica Oscar Barnack Award, Berlin |
| 2019 | Winner, New Talent Award at Photo Month, Belgrade |
| 2018 | Winner, FOLA Photobook Award, Buenos Aires |
| 2018 | Winner, Art Competition, Münzenberg Forum, Berlin |
| 2017 | Young Talent Prize, Dumont Journalism Awards 2016, Halle an der Saale |
| 2017 | 1st Prize, VDS Sportsphoto of the Year 2016, Dortmund |
Curating
| 2025 | Solomiya Studio, KVOST - Kunstverein Ost, Berlin |
| 2025 | After Now - Navigating Peace, Goethe Institut, Sarajevo |
Imprint
Sebastian Wells
c/o OSTKREUZ – Photographer’s Agency
Behaimstraße 34
13086 Berlin
mail@ostkreuz.de
© for the photographs: Sebastian Wells, 2016-2025
© for the music: Doomscroll Shame by Poly Chain, 2025
Photography
2016-2024
[...] The gold medalists don’t shine like stars. They are illuminated by the floodlights under the stadium roof and the popping of flashbulbs from hundreds of cameras, whose light is reflected by gleaming faces where a medal glitters. These faces then glow brightly on the living-room TVs in people’s homes, lit by LEDs and accentuated by a commentator’s euphoric voice, which intensifies the light and noise.
Jean-Luc Godard would often tune in. In a 2001 interview with the sports newspaper L’Équipe, he said that television was dreadful by and large, but he liked watching sportscasts because they didn’t lie. How could they? They turn competitive sport into theater. Theater can’t lie; it has its own inherent truth, the truth of the great story.
The massive win.
The thumping defeat.
The surprise comeback.
The underdog.
Hardcore training, an international public profile, doping, and money all go into producing a great story in sport—and ideally a combination of these ingredients. Can you ignore the big story? Stand with your back to the stage? Make like you’re looking at hieroglyphics when the stadium display flashes up “WR” to indicate a world record? [...]
Jean-Luc Godard would often tune in. In a 2001 interview with the sports newspaper L’Équipe, he said that television was dreadful by and large, but he liked watching sportscasts because they didn’t lie. How could they? They turn competitive sport into theater. Theater can’t lie; it has its own inherent truth, the truth of the great story.
The massive win.
The thumping defeat.
The surprise comeback.
The underdog.
Hardcore training, an international public profile, doping, and money all go into producing a great story in sport—and ideally a combination of these ingredients. Can you ignore the big story? Stand with your back to the stage? Make like you’re looking at hieroglyphics when the stadium display flashes up “WR” to indicate a world record? [...]
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