Faces of Jesus

Since 2008, I have been photographing actors portraying Jesus in Passion plays and interviewing them about the weeks and months they spend living this role. To this end, I have attended almost all the Passion plays in Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic – performances that usually take place only every five, seven or ten years. The photographs are taken before or after the performance, during the interval, and occasionally during rehearsals. The questions concern the trial before the high priests, the hearing before Pontius Pilate, the flogging by Roman legionaries, the journey to Golgotha and the death on the cross – and whether their own image of Christ has influenced their performance and how it has changed.

The performers almost always come from ordinary working life: tradespeople, artists, police officers, tax officials. People from the neighbourhood who, for a few months each year, embody one of the most famous figures in human history. Some take on the role several times over the years.

The series has been exhibited on several occasions, once even alongside engravings by Albrecht Dürer depicting the story of the Passion, and has been published in magazines – interestingly, mostly outside my own country.

“We want to see Jesus”, say Greek pilgrims in the Gospel of John to Philip, one of the twelve apostles. This longing predates any depiction of him and has never waned. For centuries, artists have grappled with the question of what Jesus might actually have looked like. The image we are familiar with today – long hair, a full beard – was by no means established from the outset: Early Christian art initially depicted Christ as youthful and beardless, as the Good Shepherd. The bearded, long-haired type only became established in the centuries that followed and has persisted ever since, as if there were a true original against which every depiction is measured. Forensic reconstructions based on contemporary skull finds from Galilee paint a different picture: short hair, darker skin.

The question of his appearance is merely the most obvious one. There is no original against which an image can be verified. Every face remains open to whatever the viewer themselves projects onto it. Therein lies the mystery – and therein also lies the answer to the question of what Jesus might have looked like.

Even photography cannot answer this question. Its claim to capture reality directly makes it the perfect tool for a desire that predates any camera.