Tom Wagner is a North American fine art and documentary visual storyteller. Building on a successful career as an international photojournalist, Wagner takes a methodical and in-depth approach to exploring and researching projects. Questions of propaganda and what is knowable about the 'other' are found at the center of Wagner’s projects. His work often explores the impacts of place and time on his subjects, providing an entrance for viewers to create their own narratives of journeys where they discover answers to questions they find within.
Wagner lived in Tokyo and London for more than two decades traveling and photographing for publications including Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Der Spiegel, L’Express, which afforded the opportunity to repeatedly visit places and people, to spend time, to form connections on which to build long-term, and on-going documentary projects.
His photography has won awards including Life Magazine/Columbia University’s Eisie award and University of Missouri’s sponsored Pictures of the Year.
Since returning to the United States Wagner has shown in a variety of exhibitions in Chicago and Michigan, including a solo show on North Korea titled, “No Motherland Without You,” a multi-media installation at Hope College, Holland, Michigan. Other work includes a continuing project on Japan titled, “Golden Recession.”
