Manuel Heywinkel: Treppen

“For me, stairs are far more than building elements that connect the levels of a building. Historically they were often instruments of representation: in palaces and other significant buildings they were staged deliberately and could express power, rank and importance. Photographically, too, I find stairs extraordinarily exciting.” – Manuel Heywinkel

“Through their construction alone they offer interesting sightlines, vanishing lines, repetitions and perspectives. Depending on where you stand, one and the same staircase can look completely different. Perhaps that is exactly the fascination: a stair first fulfils one clear function, and at the same time offers countless ways to interpret it architecturally and photographically.”

Manuel Heywinkel is a German photographer. The twenty-eight images here, made between 2023 and 2026 on a smartphone, a digital camera and a Canon EOS R7, follow one subject through stations, stairwells and public buildings: the stair as line, spiral and void.