
Donald Weber
Omaha Beach Shrapnel #188 (Assorted Shrapnel), Sector Dog, White, 2013

Documentary photographer Donald Weber is concerned with questions of power, especially as it is used—and abused—by nation states. Weber, who is trained as an architect and once worked in the Rotterdam office of the iconic urban thinker Rem Koolhaas, explores the more secret history of the 20th century; for example, his dramatic “Interrogations” series, inspired by a trip to Chernobyl and shot over a seven-year period, illustrates the vulnerability of suspects during private questioning by post-Soviet police. “This work is not about Ukraine or Russia or even the former Soviet Union,” he says, “but instead a way to see the modern state as a primitive and sacrificial rite.” In staged portraits and crisp landscapes, Weber argues that we are all, in one way or another, actors on the global stage.


Documentary photographer Donald Weber is concerned with questions of power, especially as it is used—and abused—by nation states. Weber, who is trained as an architect and once worked in the Rotterdam office of the iconic urban thinker Rem Koolhaas, explores the more secret history of the 20th century; for example, his dramatic “Interrogations” series, inspired by a trip to Chernobyl and shot over a seven-year period, illustrates the vulnerability of suspects during private questioning by post-Soviet police. “This work is not about Ukraine or Russia or even the former Soviet Union,” he says, “but instead a way to see the modern state as a primitive and sacrificial rite.” In staged portraits and crisp landscapes, Weber argues that we are all, in one way or another, actors on the global stage.