Under Water is a photographic project by Hans-Christian Schink, published by Hartmann Books as an embossed hardcover in Swiss brochure binding with a french-fold dust jacket. The book measures 24 × 31.8 cm and runs 122 pages, with 5 foldouts and 62 illustrations. The text is in German and English, and the design is by Hannah Feldmeier, Leipzig. The ISBN is 978-3-96070-081-4.

For this body of work Schink used an underwater camera without diving, so he could only guess what was visible through the viewfinder. He photographed in different biotopes of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany’s most water-rich state: lakes, ditches and so-called kettles, bodies of water mostly formed when the ice sheet receded at the end of the last ice age. In a very confined space, the pictures reveal unfamiliar, almost archaic landscapes; their distorted proportions create a mysterious miniature world with sculptural character. The wider subject is the relationship between humans and nature: these underwater worlds cannot be separated from those above ground, since they too are shaped by agriculture and climate change, reconnecting with Schink’s long-standing theme of socially determined topographies.

Hans-Christian Schink studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig. His landscape and architectural photography probes the relationship between nature and civilization. He lives and works in Plath, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. An exhibition at Stadthaus Ulm ran from 7 July to 22 September 2024, accompanied by a Making of “Under Water”.