As a filmmaker Zownir has since 1986 written and directed ten short films, collaborating with the likes of Alexandre Rockwell, Ryu Murakami and Chosei Funahara and one feature-length documentary, which was shown at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival, among others. Since 1995 he works and lives in Berlin as a photographer, filmmaker and author of crime novels. He moved to West-Berlin in his early twenties, and then lived in London during the heyday of the punk movement, before expatriating in 1981 to the United States, where he stayed for almost one and a half decades, living in the cities of New York, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh. Miron Zownir was born in 1953 in Karlsruhe, Germany. So censorship in various forms has been a frequent companion of Zownir's career as a photographer and consequently the countless odd jobs of his life generally provided him with a steadier income than an artistic body of work which has barely ever paid the bills, yet is considered groundbreaking by many. Zownir's painfully raw and candid view of life and death on skid row frequently crosses the common borders of decency and good taste, and appears to violate even the art establishment's extended asthetic and ethical standards. Legendary screen-author and notorious ultra-hipster Terry Southern thus once labeled Zownir 'The Poet Of Radical Photography'. His imagery leaves the spectator with a hard-to-grab sense of disorientation and mystery, creating questions rather than providing with answers and clear information. Although in part of an undeniable documentary value, Zownir's photographic work has an ultimately ambiguous air, which defies easy categorization.
His often obscure and shadowy photos present the viewer with intensely disturbing and indiscrete images of lust, obsession, insanity, fear, death, loneliness, violence and pride on the rims of society. Zownir's stark existentialistic b/w photography focuses mainly on people in subcultural environments his subject is the outsider, the invidualist by choice or ill fate. I thought that more people would be encouraged to go do something good.EYEMAZING Interview by Bennet Togler (Amsterdam, Issue 02/2006)Īn underground icon since the early 80s, Miron Zownir has gained the reputation of being one of the most uncompromising contemporary photographers. If take that as self-promoting, that’s okay. What made you do that? "I felt like, if I’m in a position to give, how dare I give to someone who doesn’t need it? It was necessary to record and share that. In October 2016, you drove through L.A.’s Skid Row handing out sneakers from your collection to the homeless, even though they were supposed to be for influencers and celebrities. When you’re in a relationship or at peace with God, there’s a fear that’s a reverence." For the first time in my mind, God was really cool: dark, but not in a demonic way, just that he had layers and depth to him-the kind of figure who is beyond our understanding. How so? "One day I was reading a devotion that talked about clouds and darkness around the kingdom of God. The name of your brand is not meant to be ironic, but to reflect your Christian faith. So I’m just constantly fueling myself and improving the products, based on trend, but my own life experiences."
But believing in myself is all I really have. Every collection could be the end of the brand if it’s not successful. And if we miss the target, we’ve leveraged our whole company. But that also means that every collection is a risk. Everything we do is based on our conviction. Why? "I don’t have any investors or partners to answer to. You’ve chosen not to take any external investment, even though you’ve had many opportunities to do so. A year and a half later, we had a shoe on the market." I met with the developer in Italy with a sketch of the shoe I wanted to make. He said, “I don’t, but here’s the developer that you need to talk to.” That was the assist of a lifetime. How did you get started with your now-iconic military sneakerboot? "I asked my buddy Jon Buscemi whether he had time to work with me. I’m trying to make a guy feel comfortable, to keep him the same dude." How do you describe your aesthetic? "Some guys, when they start buying luxury, start to dress less and less like themselves. The L.A.-based designer behind a four-year-old line of high-end, masculine streetwear-which has earned the approval of Kanye West, Rihanna, and Travis Scott-also created the merchandise for Justin Bieber’s 2016 Purpose tour, which immediately sold out at pop-up shops across the country. In fall 2016, sneakerheads went wild for a pair of sleek $1,095 Desert Storm–inspired high-tops created by Jerry Lorenzo.
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