Andreas Franke is known for his body of work titled The Sinking World in which he brings underwater sceneries to life. He takes the soft, lifelessness of shipwrecks and integrates life into underwater sceneries, creating a whole new world. He not only uses these shipwrecks as sceneries in his photos, but he also uses them as a unique exhibition site that becomes interactive. These underwater galleries become rather remarkable specifically to create a mystical wonder to the ocean and its shipwrecks. During the weeks and months under water, the ocean itself adds a particular patina to them over time giving the photos an embellishment that is a bizarre yet interesting tactile experience. The photographs were sealed with plexiglass and put into stainless steel frames with magnets, then finally carefully attached to the ship’s sides. It became a difficult and tedious process to not disturb the ecological environment around the marine life, as well as not damaging the ships. A method which would also allow the pictures to be easily removed later on.
One of his bodies of work that I found most interesting was the USS Mohawk, a historic WWII warship that is 165-foot in length. He lead a team of 28 people down to the ship to install a gallery of 12 images along the inside of the wreckage. He researched the Mohawk and found that it had launched 14 attacks against the german U boats and rescued 300 torpedoed ship survivors. He thought about all the sailors on the ship back then and how they spent their time either in their daily lives or dreaming of home. He also photographed superimposed models in clothing of the time period in his studio onto original photography, which he included in this series.
He states,
“With my photographs of sunken shipwrecks, I want to pull the spectators into unreal and strange worlds. Mystified scenes of the past play within a fictional space. Dreamworlds you can get lost in or you can identify with. This creates a new and unexpected atmosphere. This work shows a lot of myself, since I am always on the lookout for stunning themes to create new images never seen before.”
Ambience of Existence 
These are so incredible. I’ve always been fascinated with WWII, and how he deals and dresses the models definitely provides a feeling from that era.
I will be looking further into this artist. Thank you for sharing!
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I’m familiar with this artist and have looked at this series before, and even revisiting it, I still find the photos intriguing. His tableau lay outs and the detail in costuming is breathtaking. i love this series its absolutely fascinating. Plus the natural damage that happens to the photos on display adds another element that’s different from any other series.
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