Woman In Space

Renowned for her images of depopulated interiors, Candida Höfer’s work serves as a profound commentary on humanity. She talks to Christopher De Woolf

- Christopher De Woolf

CANDIDA HÖFER is known for her exquisitely detailed large-format photographs of opera houses, libraries and palaces, but when she visits Hong Kong she likes to go small. “When I’m here I use my handheld camera,” she says. “It’s discreet and I have it with me almost always. It gives me more freedom.”

“It’s a Sony,” she adds, and then pauses a beat before offering a quick and mischievous smile. “And that’s not because of the award.”

In April, Höfer was given the Outstanding Contribution to Photography prize at the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards. It’s a recognition of her 50-year career as a photographer, one that began under the tutelage of Bernd and Hilla Becher, whose black-and white documentation of Germany’s industrial landscape created an entirely new genre of photography — now known as the Dusseldörf School — that studied our contemporary environments with a clear, unwavering gaze.

Höfer was most recently in Hong Kong for her annual visit to Art Basel. “We’ve come every year, from the time it was still Art HK,” she says, referring to the original art fair that helped transform Hong Kong into a global art hub. She’s sitting in her Mandarin Oriental suite with her husband, who serves as an interpreter for Höfer’s softly spoken German.