bio
I was born and raised in a village in Germany until the age of 14. Given my first camera at age 11 and encouraged by my father, I wanted to become a photographer early on, but life had other plans. I moved to the US at age 14 and, because of difficult circumstances, lived there undocumented for over nine years before returning to Germany. Photography has accompanied me through all stages of life: growing up in a village, an unusual adolescence in the States, returning to Germany, my share of semi-creative and non-creative jobs, surviving cancer, becoming a mother.
Having learned to shoot film at a young age, digital photography has never felt as rewarding and exciting as shooting film has, so I recently returned to analog photography. I currently shoot with a variety of 35 mm cameras.
work
I grew up discovering and observing the world through my camera lens. The place behind the camera still creates a safe space for me to be in. I look at the world through a filter, behind a shield. The limited view allows me to focus on where I am and what’s important, right in front of me. I want to be able to look beyond the obvious, to find and show loneliness and sadness in my images, but the beauty that lies within that. I am drawn to decay, to abandoned places, to discarded, destroyed and odd objects, to construction, mess and imperfection which, to me, is often quite beautiful. My images are mostly devoid of humans; scenes I photograph are not staged, except for an occasional and intended still life.
equipment
most images were taken with
Canon A1
Rollei 35
Olympus AF
Olympus XA
education
2024/2025
Klasse Mahler (Werner & Ute Mahler, Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie, Berlin)
2023/2024
class of Hamburg Werkstatt Fotografie with Michael Grieve
1998/1999
different photo classes at The Cooper Union, New York, NY
exhibitions
05/12/2024 –11/01/2025
„Particles“ exhibition with Björn Stahmer as part of the 23/24 class of Hamburg Werkstatt Fotografie with Michael Grieve, HWF Galerie, Hamburg​
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2008
group exhibition at Alte Synagoge, Großkrotzenburg ​