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info
In the Forest Behind My Father’s House is a multisensory letter-based video and text work tracing a queer, neurodivergent body returning to a childhood village in rural western Germany. Moving between speculative moments and lived encounters, it follows a quiet yet transformative journey through memory, ecological collapse, and inherited systems of control. The project begins when a monocultural forest behind my childhood home falls due to climate change. In its ruins, diversity flourishes, and I sense that my body had always belonged here — among forms and shapes that puzzle into the cracks of rigid lines, shaping resilience able to withstand crises. Growing up within restrictive systems taught me to distrust my perception and non-binary identity. After finding myself in different cities, I return to the village of my upbringing, approaching the Land of the Fathers to understand: hunters, rangers, locals, my father — but also the forest itself, the witches’ rock, and the deer I encounter. I listen. I write letters: to the hunter who rules the land, to the deer hiding in the gorse, to the rock that witnessed the erasure of autonomous bodies, and to my father, who co-creates this story with me. Through shapeshifting into seed, hunter, deer, and ghosts of history, I imagine what it might feel like to live beyond fixed boundaries and to find deep interconnection. Using surveillance tools — microscopes, drones, night vision — I shift their purpose from control to wonder, seeking hope. This is not a linear narrative but a constellation of fragments, sensations, and the unsaid. It is a practice of listening back — in complexity, in contradiction, in layers — much like the wild nature I rediscovered. The work is made in relation. It carries the knowledge of my neurodivergent mother, sister, and father. Field sound is by Flurina Mia Häberli; type design by Anne-Dauphine Borione.
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![In The Forest Behind My Father's House]( "In The Forest Behind My Father's House")
infoIn the Forest Behind My Father's House is a multi-sensory, letter-based video and text work that explores the entanglements of ecological collapse, inherited belief systems, and queer identity. Situated at the intersection of environmental grief and embodied resistance, my practice draws on lived experience to question dominant systems of land governance, knowledge production, and belonging. Through poetic narration and tools repurposed from surveillance and control (nightvisioncameras, drones and microscopes) I reclaim ways of listening, not only to the land, but to those historically silenced by it. This work invites into a world of layered perspectives, where care and contradiction coexist, and where new relational ethics begin to take root.
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![In The Forest Behind My Father's House]( "In The Forest Behind My Father's House")
infoIn the Forest Behind My Father's House is a multi-sensory, letter-based video and text work that explores the entanglements of ecological collapse, inherited belief systems, and queer identity. Situated at the intersection of environmental grief and embodied resistance, my practice draws on lived experience to question dominant systems of land governance, knowledge production, and belonging. Through poetic narration and tools repurposed from surveillance and control (nightvisioncameras, drones and microscopes) I reclaim ways of listening, not only to the land, but to those historically silenced by it. This work invites into a world of layered perspectives, where care and contradiction coexist, and where new relational ethics begin to take root.
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![In The Forest Behind My Father's House]( "In The Forest Behind My Father's House")
infoIn the Forest Behind My Father's House is a multi-sensory, letter-based video and text work that explores the entanglements of ecological collapse, inherited belief systems, and queer identity. Situated at the intersection of environmental grief and embodied resistance, my practice draws on lived experience to question dominant systems of land governance, knowledge production, and belonging. Through poetic narration and tools repurposed from surveillance and control (nightvisioncameras, drones and microscopes) I reclaim ways of listening, not only to the land, but to those historically silenced by it. This work invites into a world of layered perspectives, where care and contradiction coexist, and where new relational ethics begin to take root.
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![In The Forest Behind My Father's House]( "In The Forest Behind My Father's House")
infoGraduationshow 2025, KABK MA Photography&Society Sounddesign: Flurina Mia Häberli Typedesign: Anne-Dauphine Borione
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![In The Forest Behind My Father's House]( "In The Forest Behind My Father's House")
infoIn the Forest Behind My Father's House is a multi-sensory, letter-based video and text work that explores the entanglements of ecological collapse, inherited belief systems, and queer identity. Situated at the intersection of environmental grief and embodied resistance, my practice draws on lived experience to question dominant systems of land governance, knowledge production, and belonging. Through poetic narration and tools repurposed from surveillance and control (nightvisioncameras, drones and microscopes) I reclaim ways of listening, not only to the land, but to those historically silenced by it. This work invites into a world of layered perspectives, where care and contradiction coexist, and where new relational ethics begin to take root.
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![In The Forest Behind My Father's House]( "In The Forest Behind My Father's House")
infoIn the Forest Behind My Father's House is a multi-sensory, letter-based video and text work that explores the entanglements of ecological collapse, inherited belief systems, and queer identity. Situated at the intersection of environmental grief and embodied resistance, my practice draws on lived experience to question dominant systems of land governance, knowledge production, and belonging. Through poetic narration and tools repurposed from surveillance and control (nightvisioncameras, drones and microscopes) I reclaim ways of listening, not only to the land, but to those historically silenced by it. This work invites into a world of layered perspectives, where care and contradiction coexist, and where new relational ethics begin to take root.
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![In The Forest Behind My Father's House]( "In The Forest Behind My Father's House")
infoselfpublished Zine A visual story A counter-map of the story A personal letter The scent of pine Each copy is hand-assembled, not mass-produced, crafted with care and attention.
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![In The Forest Behind My Father's House]( "In The Forest Behind My Father's House")
infoselfpublished Zine A visual story A counter-map of the story A personal letter The scent of pine Each copy is hand-assembled, not mass-produced, crafted with care and attention.
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![Modern Gender]( "Modern Gender")
info148 pages 23.5x30cm english, german, french Printing: PPP Pre Print Partner GmbH & Co. KG, Cologne Photographs: Aline Pape Layout & Concept: Aline Pape Text: Aline Pape, Janina Papenheim Publisher: GRAVUR Verlag GmbH ISBN: 978-3-9822562-2-1
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![The Modern Gender Project]( "The Modern Gender Project")
infoPart of the Exhibition and Book Tour with GRAVUR Studios. GE59, Berlin, Germany
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![Modern Gender]( "Modern Gender")
infoPart of the Exhibition and Book Tour with GRAVUR Studios. GE59, Berlin, Germany
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![Modern Gender]( "Modern Gender")
infoPart of the Exhibition and Book Tour with GRAVUR Studios. GE59, Berlin, Germany
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![Modern Gender]( "Modern Gender")
infoPart of the Exhibition and Book Tour with GRAVUR Studios. GE59, Berlin, Germany
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![Modern Gender]( "Modern Gender")
infoPart of the Exhibition and Book Tour with GRAVUR Studios. &wieder, Cologne, Germany
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![Modern Gender]( "Modern Gender")
infoPart of the Exhibition and Book Tour with GRAVUR Studios. Galerie M, Paris, France
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![Modern Gender]( "Modern Gender")
infoPart of the Exhibition and Book Tour with GRAVUR Studios. Galerie M, Paris, France
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![Modern Gender, Marvin]( "Modern Gender, Marvin")
infoSince gender is often still wrongly linked to sex, the assumption is that men need to be ‘masculine’ and women need to be ‘feminine’. Does this mean that men must only be ‘masculine’ and women always ‘feminine’? And what about people who do not conform to these concepts all together? Is it possible that our binary idea of gender is limiting not only to the minority but to most people in our society? To find answers to these questions, photographer and artist Aline Papenheim started their project Modern Gender, Masculinities in 2020. They searches for men and people assigned masculine at birth (amab) in different cities around Germany via online platforms to work with them. Papenheim offers participants traditionally ‘feminine’ attributes such as clothes, jewelry, and nail polish, thereby opening up a free space in which people are allowed to experiment with their ‘feminine’ side in terms of their appearance. With this process they attempts to change the ‘gender expression’ of men to see how their ‘gender performance’ and therefore their ‘habitus’ transformed. Some wear such clothing for the first time.
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![Modern Gender, Felix]( "Modern Gender, Felix")
infoSince gender is often still wrongly linked to sex, the assumption is that men need to be ‘masculine’ and women need to be ‘feminine’. Does this mean that men must only be ‘masculine’ and women always ‘feminine’? And what about people who do not conform to these concepts all together? Is it possible that our binary idea of gender is limiting not only to the minority but to most people in our society? To find answers to these questions, photographer and artist Aline Papenheim started their project Modern Gender, Masculinities in 2020. They searches for men and people assigned masculine at birth (amab) in different cities around Germany via online platforms to work with them. Papenheim offers participants traditionally ‘feminine’ attributes such as clothes, jewelry, and nail polish, thereby opening up a free space in which people are allowed to experiment with their ‘feminine’ side in terms of their appearance. With this process they attempts to change the ‘gender expression’ of men to see how their ‘gender performance’ and therefore their ‘habitus’ transformed. Some wear such clothing for the first time.
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![Modern Gender, Brian]( "Modern Gender, Brian")
infoSince gender is often still wrongly linked to sex, the assumption is that men need to be ‘masculine’ and women need to be ‘feminine’. Does this mean that men must only be ‘masculine’ and women always ‘feminine’? And what about people who do not conform to these concepts all together? Is it possible that our binary idea of gender is limiting not only to the minority but to most people in our society? To find answers to these questions, photographer and artist Aline Papenheim started their project Modern Gender, Masculinities in 2020. They searches for men and people assigned masculine at birth (amab) in different cities around Germany via online platforms to work with them. Papenheim offers participants traditionally ‘feminine’ attributes such as clothes, jewelry, and nail polish, thereby opening up a free space in which people are allowed to experiment with their ‘feminine’ side in terms of their appearance. With this process they attempts to change the ‘gender expression’ of men to see how their ‘gender performance’ and therefore their ‘habitus’ transformed. Some wear such clothing for the first time.
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![Between]( "Between")
infoAn ongoing exploration of human bodies and the space in-between.
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![Between]( "Between")
infoAn ongoing exploration of human bodies and the space in-between.
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![Between]( "Between")
infoAn ongoing exploration of human bodies and the space in-between.
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info
Websites
personal website
www.alinepape.comSocial media
Curriculum vitae
Education
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2023 - 2025MA Photography & Society Den Haag, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten diploma
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2017 - 2022BA Communication Design Fachhochschule Aachen
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2014 - 2017Vocational Diploma & Training as a Design-technical-assistant Berufskolleg Bergkloster Bestwig
exhibitions
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2025push pull shift Živi Atelje DK Zagreb, Croatia Group
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2024Fragments in Transit Beetroot Studio Thessaloniki, Greece Group
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202400:05:59 Paradise The Hague, Netherlands Group
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2023Modern Gender Galerie M Paris, France The Modern Gender, Masculinities project by non-binary photographer and artist Aline Pape is an exploration of the limiting effects of binary gender concepts on society. Through her project, Pape challenges the traditional representations of ‘masculinity’ and offers an alternative perspective that goes beyond the binary. Her approach involves working with men and people assigned masculine at birth, offering them traditionally ‘feminine’ attributes to experiment with their ‘gender expression’ to see how their ‘gender performance’ and therefore their ‘habitus’ transformed. By questioning the problematic and normalised representations of ‘masculinity’, Pape's project becomes a social experiment, attempting to see how far photography can influence social processes. Through this exhibition, Aline Pape offers an intimate and immersive experience, presenting her photographs at eye-level and life-size. This approach creates a sense of closeness and vulnerability and invites the audience to join in the conversation about ‘masculinity’ and gender norms. The project is a powerful example of an intersection of sociology and photography that allows for experimental research and raises important questions about gender norms and expectations. Through her project, Aline Pape provides a platform to explore and challenge the concept of ‘masculinity’. It is a call for inclusivity, diversity, and breaking free from the constraints of binary gender roles. galeriem.eu/modern_gender.php Solo
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2023Modern Gender GE59 Berlin, Germany The Modern Gender, Masculinities project by non-binary photographer and artist Aline Pape is an exploration of the limiting effects of binary gender concepts on society. Through her project, Pape challenges the traditional representations of ‘masculinity’ and offers an alternative perspective that goes beyond the binary. Her approach involves working with men and people assigned masculine at birth, offering them traditionally ‘feminine’ attributes to experiment with their ‘gender expression’ to see how their ‘gender performance’ and therefore their ‘habitus’ transformed. By questioning the problematic and normalised representations of ‘masculinity’, Pape's project becomes a social experiment, attempting to see how far photography can influence social processes. Through this exhibition, Aline Pape offers an intimate and immersive experience, presenting her photographs at eye-level and life-size. This approach creates a sense of closeness and vulnerability and invites the audience to join in the conversation about ‘masculinity’ and gender norms. The project is a powerful example of an intersection of sociology and photography that allows for experimental research and raises important questions about gender norms and expectations. Through her project, Aline Pape provides a platform to explore and challenge the concept of ‘masculinity’. It is a call for inclusivity, diversity, and breaking free from the constraints of binary gender roles. www.ge59.space/news-events/fotoausstellung-und-buchtour-modern-gender Solo
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2023Modern Gender Studio Hausen Hamburg, Germany The Modern Gender, Masculinities project by non-binary photographer and artist Aline Pape is an exploration of the limiting effects of binary gender concepts on society. Through her project, Pape challenges the traditional representations of ‘masculinity’ and offers an alternative perspective that goes beyond the binary. Her approach involves working with men and people assigned masculine at birth, offering them traditionally ‘feminine’ attributes to experiment with their ‘gender expression’ to see how their ‘gender performance’ and therefore their ‘habitus’ transformed. By questioning the problematic and normalised representations of ‘masculinity’, Pape's project becomes a social experiment, attempting to see how far photography can influence social processes. Through this exhibition, Aline Pape offers an intimate and immersive experience, presenting her photographs at eye-level and life-size. This approach creates a sense of closeness and vulnerability and invites the audience to join in the conversation about ‘masculinity’ and gender norms. The project is a powerful example of an intersection of sociology and photography that allows for experimental research and raises important questions about gender norms and expectations. Through her project, Aline Pape provides a platform to explore and challenge the concept of ‘masculinity’. It is a call for inclusivity, diversity, and breaking free from the constraints of binary gender roles. moderngender.eu/ Solo
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2023Modern Gender &wieder Cologne The Modern Gender, Masculinities project by non-binary photographer and artist Aline Pape is an exploration of the limiting effects of binary gender concepts on society. Through her project, Pape challenges the traditional representations of ‘masculinity’ and offers an alternative perspective that goes beyond the binary. Her approach involves working with men and people assigned masculine at birth, offering them traditionally ‘feminine’ attributes to experiment with their ‘gender expression’ to see how their ‘gender performance’ and therefore their ‘habitus’ transformed. By questioning the problematic and normalised representations of ‘masculinity’, Pape's project becomes a social experiment, attempting to see how far photography can influence social processes. Through this exhibition, Aline Pape offers an intimate and immersive experience, presenting her photographs at eye-level and life-size. This approach creates a sense of closeness and vulnerability and invites the audience to join in the conversation about ‘masculinity’ and gender norms. The project is a powerful example of an intersection of sociology and photography that allows for experimental research and raises important questions about gender norms and expectations. Through her project, Aline Pape provides a platform to explore and challenge the concept of ‘masculinity’. It is a call for inclusivity, diversity, and breaking free from the constraints of binary gender roles. moderngender.eu/ Solo
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2023Up And Coming – Förderpreis für junge Buchgestaltung 2023 einBuch.haus Berlin, Germany www.stiftung-buchkunst.de/foerderpreis-fuer-junge-buchgestaltung/die-shortlist/ Group
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2023Allianzen Aachen Fotofestival 2023, Raststätte Aachen, Germany Alliances – Aachen Photo Festival 2023 What is meant by ‘modern gender’? This is the question posed by photographers Aline Papenheim and Iris Hilgers in their exhibition on the theme of gender boundaries. They believe it is important to treat people who cannot and do not want to identify with their biological gender with sensitivity. The photographers address this issue by allowing their male models to appear as they feel comfortable, bearded, wearing make-up and beautiful clothes. In their photographic works, the photographers call for tolerance and encourage discussion about equality, which is still overshadowed by prejudice. Yet women wearing trousers or suits are now a matter of course. Iris Hilgers, for example, goes into a former factory hall to ask what constitutes masculinity, femininity and diversity. With her magnificent project Modern Gender, photographer Aline Pape questions whether and how this image of masculinity can and must be made more flexible. Rigid categories are dissolved by ‘Modern Gender’. A new perspective is important to both photographers – they offer moving motifs and take up the current discussion artistically. raststaette.org/termine/fotografie-festival-modern-gender/2023-08-19/ Duo
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2023Nouvelles Masculinités Galerie M Paris, France Talking about new masculinities reflects current thinking about the place of masculinity (and, implicitly, femininity) in our relationships with others. The exhibition ‘New Masculinities’ offers us nine perspectives, nine sensibilities, nine approaches from nine contemporary artists who present their ways of addressing, confronting or simply observing masculinity. galeriem.eu/nouvelles_masculinites.php Group
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2022Fun in the Sun Schnörres Cologne, Germany Group
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2021Aachener Kunstroute BOA - Bunker of Art Aachen, Germany Group
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2021Poebel BOA - Bunker of Art Aachen, Germany Group
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2020Positur#1 Stadtteilzentrum Nordstadt Hannover, Germany www.artrabbit.com/events/positur-1-stadtteilzentrum-nordstadt-ev Group
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2020Urbane Nachwelt Glashalle Aachen Aachen, Germany Solo
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2020Aachener Kunstroute BOA - Bunker of Art Aachen, Germany aachenerkunstroute.de/images/2020/pressematerial/broschuere/Broschuere-2020.pdf Group
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2019Streaming Pictures MAKK, Museum für Angewandte Kunst Cologne, Germany www.dgph.de/aktuelles/streaming-pictures-hochschulen-stellen-sich-vor-2019 Group
Projects
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2025
Baby, I Have Your Back Eindhoven, Den Haag, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands marinamp.info/baby.html baby, i have your back is a performance about embracing femininity and walking in public spaces at night collaboratively. the goal is to highlight the complexities faced by women and feminine-presenting people in public spaces, and to share these experiences with trans women, women, feminine-presenting people, and locals. from march 2024, my team (max oosterholt–walking partner, aline papenheim–photographer, and myself) have been getting ready in many locations in the netherlands. we conducted walks in public spaces, documented the experiences, and reflected on the transformations. our walks have taken place in eindhoven, amsterdam, rotterdam, and the hague, almost all at night. each walk involves a getting-ready routine with makeup, accessories, and costumes (see photos of the process documented by aline). we have talked about questions that help tap into a more feminine side. these processes are documented, and mantras are written on notes placed in costume pockets. we have completed eight walks and a self-defense class.
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2025
The Forest Behind My Fathers House Royal Academy of Art The Hague The Hague / Sauerland GER, Netherlands alinepape.com/in-the-forest-behind-my-fathers-house In the Forest Behind My Father's House is a multi-sensory, letter-based video and text work that explores the entanglements of ecological collapse, inherited belief systems, and queer identity. Situated at the intersection of environmental grief and embodied resistance, my practice draws on lived experience to question dominant systems of land governance, knowledge production, and belonging. Through poetic narration and tools repurposed from surveillance and control (nightvisioncameras, drones and microscopes) I reclaim ways of listening, not only to the land, but to those historically silenced by it. This work invites into a world of layered perspectives, where care and contradiction coexist, and where new relational ethics begin to take root.
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2021
Modern Gender Aachen, Cologne, Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg, Germany alinepape.com/modern-gender Modern Gender is a collaborative project exploring masculinity through sociology and photography in various German cities. From 2020 to 2022, participants—men and individuals assigned male at birth—were invited to experiment with traditionally "feminine" attributes like clothing, jewelry, and makeup. For many, it was their first time engaging in this form of self-expression, creating a playful space to question Western gender norms.
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2020
Between Aachen, Germany alinepape.com/between Het project ‘Between’ is een doorlopend project sinds 2019, waarin ik het menselijk lichaam verken door middel van analoge fotografie.
Publications
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2023
Awards and grants
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2023Berlin Young Book Design Award Stiftung Buchkunst Berlin, Germany Shortlisted for the Berlin Young Book Design Award with Modern Gender
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2022Scholarships Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft, NRW Aachen, Germany In order to publish my first book, I received a grant from the Ministry of Culture and Science, North Rhine-Westphalia.
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2022German Design Award 2023 – Newcomer German Design award Germany Nominee German Design Award 2023 – Newcomer
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2021Scholarship Stipendium der Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes Aachen, Germany From 2021 to 2025, I have been selected for the scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation.
Secondary art-related activities
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2025 - 2027Co-Teacher New Photo Economy KABK On-going
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2025 - --workshop leader, FH Aachen Photography Department On-going
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2025 - 2025co-member wanderstories with Remco de Vries, Utrecht On-going
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2025 - --Founder Sofatalks with Gundega Strauberga On-going
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2019 - 2022Scientific Assistant, FH Aachen Photography Department