Bruce Eesly

About Bruce Eesly

Bruce Eesly is both a visual artist and gardener based in Berlin. He holds a degree in communication and multimedia design from FH Aachen (University of Applied Sciences, Germany). His photographic work focuses on archival photographs and artificially generated images, blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction. He is interested in the status of photography in the age of AI and its role in shaping our relationship to the natural world. As a gardener, his work is informed by a curiosity for the history and impacts of industrial agriculture and the absurdities of our technological worship.

Photographic approach of Bruce Eesly

With his dual role as an artist and gardener, his work is driven by a curiosity about the history and impacts of industrial agriculture, as well as the absurdities of our technological worship. He views gardening as a political act, and his practice is an extension of this belief.

In his most recent work, New Farmer (2023), Bruce Eesly uses AI-generated images to challenge the dominant narrative of the Green Revolution with absurdity and humor. He aims to shed light on our oversimplification of nature and invites viewers to take a critical look at our place within the biosphere. Drawing on the aesthetics of the 1960s, the artist creates a unique and singular archive. New Farmer is a post-photography experiment that deals with propaganda, our extractive relationship to nature, the reliability of photographs and the way history is made and perceived through images.

The story itself, while bearing some resemblance to actual events, is also made up: this alternative version doesn’t end in the giant fields of monocultures that surround us today, but instead brings about oversized vegetables. Bruce Eesly with absurdity and humor, explores the way history is made and perceived through images and questions the dominant narrative of the Green Revolution. The project reflects on our extractive relationship to nature, inviting viewers to take a critical look at our place within the biosphere and the ripple effects of our actions.

Exhibitions and Residencies

His work New Farmer has been exhibited multiple times across Europe, including at the Rencontre Photographiques d'Arles (France), PhEST (Italy), Haus am Kleistpark (Germany), Ffoto Cymru (UK), and the Oslo Negativ Festival (Norway).

Bruce Eesly has also exhibited internationally, notably at Jimei x Arles in China. His work has been recognized with several awards, including the Haus am Kleistpark Art Prize, the PHotoESPANA Best Photobook of the Year, and the Preus Museum Open Call. New Farmer was part of Aimagine - Photography and generative images at Hangar in 2025. His works are also part of the following collections: The Rencontres d'Arles Collection, The Møller Collection, The PhotoBookMuseum, and the Preus Museum, The National Museum of Photography.

Art Book Publications by Bruce Eesly

Bruce Eesly also publishes his work in book form. His project New Farmer is self-published in a book of the same name. His work has also been published in various photography magazines and newspapers, including Fisheye, The Guardian, Blind, Fotomagazin, and Fotografi Magazine.