Faces of Evil in Photography
Faces of Evil, the book by Hans Weishaeupl, has won a Yellow Pencil for photography at the D&AD Awards presentation in London this last week. The book and exhibition feature the faces of the 13 cruellest and most infamous dictators of our time. Hans Weishäupl took photographs of over 350 people representing the ethnic origins of the dictators and pieced particular parts of them together to create a new and alarmingly lively look for each of them.
Between November, 2007 and March, 2008, the Hamburg Das Comitee team took photographs of over 350 people in Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, Dresden, Frankfurt, Berlin, Amsterdam, Moscow, Belgrade, London, Barcelona, Paris and Milan. Dictators featured are Adolf Hitler (book cover), Josef Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Robert Mugabe, Mao Zedong, Nicolae Ceausescu, Slobodan Milošević, Benito Mussolini, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Kim Il-sung, Augusto Pinochet and Francisco Franco.
Photographs at the exhibition are 1.80m x 2.30m, high-resolution digital images that expose every tiny detail of their faces, framed in a way that these leaders would never have tolerated themselves – without uniform, without autocratic gestures, without cheering crowds.
The portrait of Hitler consists of 37 people. His nose belongs to an estate agent from Berlin, his upper lip to a locksmith in Dresden. His hair is put together from the hair of an artist in Weiden and a painter in Bamberg. The chin stems from a Hamburg restaurant owner, the eyes are those of a bank advisor in Frankfurt, the lachrymal sacks are from a precision mechanic in Bautzen, the throat is that of a Viennese banker, the beard belongs to a chef from Wuppertal. Every wrinkle, eyebrow and mole has been replicated true to the original so that it is possible to get a direct and close impression of every scar, nose hair, wide pore and other fine details.
Credits
The Faces of Evil project was developed at Das Comittee, Hamburg, by creative director/photographer/image manipulator/art director Hans Weishäupl, photographer Janet Riedel, copywriter Dirk Silz, typographer Gunta Lauck, and account handler Helen Zeggai.
See Hans Weishäupl’s earlier work for NOAH, featuring Hitler, Caucescu and Hussein.
Image by Hans Weishäupl above from Spiegel.
The Faces of Evil project also won two awards at the ADC Gipfel der Kreativität 2009.
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Location 
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Posted in Inspiration, Photography
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(4.92 out of 5)
Very interesting concept.
–Matt Bamberg, Author, http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Secrets-Create-Winning-Photographs/dp/1598639021
Would of been good to include all the photos.
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-33793-2.html
how about throwing every american president up there? who has robert mugabe exetriminated? how about mao zedong? this book is a joke
Saying Kim Il Sung was evil is like saying Che Guevara was evil…not at at accurate.
Not very well researched artwork – This wouldn't get a good grade from my university – unless the portfolio was entitled 'propaganda'.
I agree completely with Nikola. To call a person evil is the most horrible thing a human can be labeled. Now, some of these people were actually evil, but some, such as Franco, had good intent, and becoming a dictator was the only way to STOP evil. Remember, Dictator does not equate to evil, it’s purely based on their personality and beliefs. This exhibition disgusts me as it degrades some of the worlds greatest leaders