The photo-based practice of Tobias Zielony often portrays disenfranchised individuals and communities, such as sex workers, illegal immigrant activists, or marginalized youth, in different cities and situations. Shot mainly in color, his works straddle the line between documentary and fictional approaches. As he captures the daily lives of his subjects in relation to the social and political contexts in which they find themselves, the artist also reveals how images affect perceptions of ourselves and others. Zielony was featured in the German Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 and has held solo exhibitions at institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2011); the National Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome (2012); the Esker Foundation, Calgary (2014); and the Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal (2017). A retrospective is scheduled for 2021 at the Museum Folkwang, Essen.