Kai Wiedenhöfer

Kai Wiedenhöfer (3 March 1966 – 9 January 2024) was a German photojournalist. Two major subjects of his work were Palestinian life and separation barriers. Wiedenhöfer received the W. Eugene Smith Grant, the Carmignac Photojournalism Award and the Carl von Ossietzky Medal. He had a solo exhibition at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris in 2010, documenting the consequences of Israel's war against Gaza.

Early life and education Wiedenhöfer was born in Schwenningen, Schwarzwald-Baar district in southern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He studied documentary photography and editorial design at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, graduating in 1995.

He spent decades photographing all the major separation barriers, including the Berlin Wall, the Israeli West Bank barrier, the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus, the Mexico–United States border wall, the Baghdad Wall, and the peace lines in Belfast. He has said: "One of the things that links all the walls and barriers is the insistence by those who build them that each wall is unique and that you cannot compare the different walls, [. . .] But the point I am trying to make is different. It's that what connects all these walls is a problem you cannot solve through negotiation, so you build a wall and make the problem worse." The combination of the fall of one wall and construction of another inspired Wiedenhöfer to create Wall on Wall, a display of large images of the Israeli separation wall on the remnants of the Berlin Wall at the outdoor East Side Gallery; and later three dozen large images of barriers from around the world displayed on the peace lines in Belfast.

In 2024, he died after a heart attack while cycling in Swabia, age 57. Checkpoint Huwara. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2008. With . . The Book of Destruction. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2010. . 2002: W. Eugene Smith Grant from the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund, USA 2003: 2nd prize, General News category, 2004 World Press Photo Contest, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2009: Carmignac Photojournalism Award from Fondation Carmignac, Paris 2016: Co-winner with SOS Méditerranée of the Carl von Ossietzky Medal from the , Berlin

Exhibitions The Book of Destruction, Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, 2010