BIRKLEY
GRUNEWALD

I have always loved telling stories. As a kid, I would rant for hours about imagined worlds — playing games with my friends on alien planets, building entire civilisations from nothing. But the older I got, the more I realised that the magical stories I dreamed of happened right in front of my face every day.

The Chinese ayi tending her garden at dawn. The ruins of an ancient Roman manor, half-swallowed by grass. The faces of two Indonesian construction workers sharing a cigarette at the end of a shift. All of these tell stories so intricate and so deeply human that words — for once — do not do them justice.

That is why I started shooting. To capture and carry the stories that language couldn't hold. The beautiful and ugly, the mundane and legendary, the quiet and the overwhelming. The complex, infinitely interesting story of our world.

I have not the skill of a professional photographer. This is not supposed to be art. It is simply my attempt to be a witness — to the places I pass through and the people I am lucky enough to encounter along the way.