This publication charts the Haus der Kunst München exhibition ‘Trace—Formations of Likeness.’, drawn exclusively from The Walther Collection.

The exhibition explores portrait photography and the tracing of societal transformation across geographic spaces as well as contrasting socio-political and cultural landscapes.

Portrait photography has been deployed as a means to shape identity, to advocate for social change, and as a subversive strategy for visibility, often through an intimate investigation of the politics of memory, history, and embodiment.

This book encompasses works from the last two hundred years and brings together artists from Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

The juxtaposition of archival, documentary, and vernacular photography offers a global context to reflect on the divergent trajectories of historical and contemporary photography today.

Collectively, these works showcase the medium’s capacity as both an instrument for empowerment and a formation of the self, as well as its complex uses as a tool for control and subjugation.

Features an essay by British curator and cultural historian Mark Sealy.

Artists include: anonymous artists and Ai Weiwei, Jane Alexander, Dieter Appelt, Richard Avedon, Martina Bacigalupo, Sammy Baloji, Yto Barrada, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Jodi Bieber, Karl Blossfeldt, Candice Breitz, Cang Xin, Edson Chagas, Kudzanai Chiurai, Mitch Epstein, Em’kal Eyongakpa, and others.