TOM HEGEN, The Shark Bay, 2022

TOM HEGEN, The Shark Bay, 2022
Edition of 10 + 1 AP
Numbered
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity
Hand knotted
Wool & Silk
High / Low Cut

Tom Hegen (b. 1991, Königsbrunn, Germany) is a German photographer known for his aerial studies of landscapes shaped by natural processes and human intervention. Working primarily from elevated viewpoints, Hegen isolates patterns, color fields, and geological formations that become visible only from above, creating images that balance documentation with an almost abstract clarity. His photographs often examine how industrial activity, infrastructure, and environmental systems intersect, revealing structures and rhythms that are otherwise difficult to perceive at ground level.

His work has received international recognition, including the International Photography Awards and the Leica Oskar Barnack Award. Hegen’s first monograph, Habitat (2018), focused on landscapes transformed by human activity, presenting aerial views that highlight the scale and geometry of extraction sites, salt fields, and agricultural formations. This was followed by Aerial Observations on Airports (2019), a photographic study of airport infrastructure, where runways and taxiways become graphic compositions seen from above. Hegen lives and works in Munich.

For Atelier Bowy C.D., part of Henzel Studio, Hegen reinterpreted his photograph The Shark Bay Peninsula (2019), captured in Western Australia. The original image documents the shifting boundary between shallow coastal waters, sandbanks, and mineral-rich terrain, where variations in tone and sediment create an almost painterly landscape.

Translated into textile form, the design follows a free-form composition with varying pile heights that echo the changing topography of the photographed site. Carefully selected materials intensify the contrast between the different natural elements, allowing the rug to retain the layered qualities of the original aerial image while adapting them to a tactile medium.