Biography of Willy Spiller
Award-winning photographer Willy Spiller has over 45 years-worth of experience as a photojournalist and has worked for many of the world’s most prominent newspapers and magazines. His images of common, everyday life draw attention to the intriguing details many people would otherwise overlook.
Born in 1947 in Zurich, Switzerland, Willy Spiller studied Photography at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich. He quickly began making a name for himself as a photojournalist and in 1977 he moved to New York. By the mid-80s he was once again in Europe and working for the Schweizer Illustrierte.
Enormously versatile, Willy Spiller captures images from all walks of life, from the New York subway to more hard-hitting subjects such as the Legacy of the Slave Trade. Time and time again his work zeroes in on alteration, be it aesthetic modulation or social upheaval, as he continually probes at the conventions in contemporary photography.
During his career he has produced photography books and highly-collectable limited edition prints. Willy Spiller has won plaudits and awards for his domestic and foreign reportages. He has featured in numerous group exhibitions including “Photographie in der Schweiz von 1840 bis heute” at the Schweizerische Stiftung für die Photographie, Bern in 1992 as well as having solo exhibitions in his home city of Zurich, Switzerland as well as in New York in the United States.
