Arne Lessig is a visual and historical anthropologist and photographer, based in Vienna, Austria. He holds a BA in Cultural and Social Anthropology from the University Vienna. He is currently working on a project about colonial photography, as part of his master's thesis, at the Weltmuseum Wien.

For his photo essays he uses photography and the method of visual anthropology to provide a view into different thinking and acting of people with various social backgrounds. His goal is to get people to know each other better and to stimulate conversations and discussions.

Arne focuses on people who are living in community or who are sharing a social bubble, social rites or a common worldview. He also is interested in current political issues. He works exclusively in German-speaking countries for his photo essays.

In his more artistic approach, in which he only photographs on b&w film, Arne Lessig tries to preserve the anonymity of the motif and follows the form rather than the story behind the motif. The biggest challenge here, is not to reproduce stereotypes. At the same time, this is unavoidable due to power structures and must be criticized.

At the same time, Arne Lessig is aware that his photographs cannot be viewed separately from his own history and socialisation. In his exhibitions, Arne Lessig attaches great importance to the fact that his works say more about himself than about the motif and its history.

All pictures are taken on film.