They are famous. They are notorious. And yet there’s rarely a tradition that has exerted as much fascination on humans for decades as the Cologne hooligan movement. So what drove people to seek excess again week after week? Hooligans have determined to shed their bourgeois existence for an agreed time slot to live a life outside their current life. And what traces do an existence leave behind that has to be introduced into harmony with a regular middle-class life in the place of tension and sporting fanaticism?

For my photo project `Cologne hooligans` I accompanied Cologne hooligans and one-time hooligans over a year. I took my photos at diverse places withinside the city. Individual portraits, group shots and scenic photos had been created. The photographs were made with the purpose of depicting the characters- especially the main characters named ‘Tesch‘, ‘Kalla‘ and ’Thor‘, in a rough, unadorned, inventive and present day manner.

My name is `EXXSY’. I have been a photographer since 1990 with a strong foundation in photojournalism. I’m based in Germany, and I’m mainly active in the field of people and portrait photography. I try to create images in which people are simply what they are: approachable, unvarnished, strong and vulnerable at the same time, regardless of how rough or gentle a story of a person or the character itself is and no matter where a person comes from.

By EXXSY