Whether or not the EU includes the UK, one euro still won’t buy much. But in the hands of German photographer Oliver Schwarzwald, the kinds of things it will buy—pink plastic curlers, bags of marbles, rolls of tape—get transformed into miniature sculptures that he shoots on simple backdrops. The results use subtle planes of color and shadow to frame his odd, creative arrangements—a curly straw holds up a metallic scrub sponge, a kids’ toy swings from a column of foam. Writes Schwarzwald about the project, which is on view at the offices of Julia Waldmann’s new photo agency in Hamburg this summer, “One Euro (or 99 Cent) trash is a great symbol for…globalization and the destructive idea of mass consumption. Produced under awful conditions by the poorest, One Euro/99 Cent products are a waste of everything.” After making cheap objects into beautiful images, Schwarzwald now hopes to transform the images into something more useful—he is giving away editioned copies in exchange for contributions to aid organizations. “I want to challenge myself to create something beautiful from the mundane,” he says, “to transform the plastic products usually found in these stores” into something more meaningful.

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