Andres Serrano

Andres Serrano (born 1950), one of the most celebrated representatives of contemporary photography and art, achieved major prominence for his work "Piss Christ," which to this day has not lost any of its unsettling impact. Religion, sexuality and death are pervasive elements of his oeuvre.

Raised as a Catholic in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Serrano became curious about the Hasidic community there from an early age. An invitation to Israel expanded his artistic repertoire: using a Mamiya RB67, he approached the subject of religious faith via the landscape and the people. He visited sacred sites in Bethlehem, Ramallah, Galilee and the Dead Sea; came closer to people step by step, picture by picture, following them through their everyday lives and to celebrations, ultimately depicting the traces of the identity of an entire nation in their faces, in intense studio photographs.