Aline Papenheim
*1997, Germany (they/them)
Between South Holland & Western Germany

Statement
June 2025
I grew up as a fluid, questioning being in a rural Christian German village—far from conversations about gender, queerness, or complexity. To navigate that world, I compressed parts of myself—until photography became a way to reclaim them. It opened a path toward imagining beyond social expectations and into emotional and relational complexity.
As a queer, neurodivergent artist, I feel a deep kinship with nature’s biodiversity—while resisting the systems that seek to order, fix, and define us. These structures—rooted in patriarchal, capitalist, and colonial logic—teach us to harden ourselves. My response is to move toward softness, intuition, and visual languages that hold space for emotional and relational depth.
My practice is rooted in photography but unfolds across writing, installation, film, books, zines, and relational encounters. Grounded in post-queer thought and queer ecology, I use shape-shifting as a method—inhabiting multiple positions at once, holding contradiction, and building bridges across polarized beliefs.
I work slowly, collaboratively, and intuitively—revealing quiet possibilities for connection in the cracks of hardened believes. My work explores the limits of language and visual form—and what it means to move beyond them. “Beyond” points toward the speculative, the sensory, the emotionally charged, and the shared. It acknowledges that some truths are felt rather than spoken.
Through images, language, and constructed spaces, I create narratives that resist resolution and offer presence, doubt, and care. I invite others to feel, reflect, and imagine beyond what we think we know—where knowledge is relational, identities shift, and fragile ecosystems can be reimagined from within.


Education & Work Experience

2023–today
M.A. Student, Photography & Society
Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, Netherlands
2019–today
Freelance in Photography & Communicationdesign

2019–2023
Scientific Assistant, Photography Department
FH Aachen University of Applied Science, Germany

2017–2022
B.A. of Arts, Communicationdesign
FH Aachen University of Applied Science, Germany
graduated with the Badge of Honor of FH Aachen
2014–2017
Vocational Diploma & Training as a Design-technical-assistant
Berufskolleg Bergkloster Bestwig, Germany


Exhibitions
2025
03
push pull shift (g)
Živi Atelje DK, Zagreb, HR
in collabortation with MA Photography & Society: Alberto Vidal Bernedo, Andrea Stultiens, Anastasia Miseyko, Azin Nafar Haghighi, Eva Chapkin, Fabio Meinardi, Fenna Jensma, Gundega Strauberga, Hana Selena Sokolović, Joanna Demarco, Julie de Ruijter, Khalil Döring, Matteo Montaldo, Mirko Pirisi, Nadia Sheikh, Nikos Kapetanios, Odysseas Tsompanoglou, Raisa Durandi, Sara Ito and Sarah-Rose Antoun.
2024
06
00:05:59 (g)
Paradise, Den Haag, NL
in collabortation with Ambassade Van De Noordzee & Doggerland Foundation and MA Photography & Society: Ana Alves Francisco, Anastasia Miseyko, Andong Zheng, Azin Nafar Haghighi, Fabio Meinardi, Gundega Strauberga, Hana Selena Sokolović, Jeroen Zwaap, Marna Slappendel, Niside Panebianco, and Sarah-Rose Antoun.


03
Fragments in Transit (g)
Beetroot Studio, Thessaloniki, GR
in collabortation with MA Photography & Society: Ana Alves Francisco, Anastasia Miseyko, Andong Zheng, Azin Nafar Haghighi, Fabio Meinardi, Gundega Strauberga, Hana Selena Sokolović, Jeroen Zwaap, Marna Slappendel, Niside Panebianco, and Sarah-Rose Antoun.


2023
09
Nouvelles Masculinités (g)
Galerie M, Paris, FR
with Ava Bob, Auréline Roy, Alexandre Dinaut, Ame Blary, Anaïs Alaoui, Karine Coutet, Philippe Mirabeau and Sasha Mongin

08–09
Allianzen – Aachen Fotofestival 2023 (g)
Raststätte, Aachen, GER
with Iris Hilgers, curated by Nina Mika-Helfmeier

07–08
Up And Coming – Förderpreis für junge Buchgestaltung 2023 (g)
in collabortation with Gravur Verlag
einBuch.haus, Berlin, GER
with Schima Köchermann, Clara Happ, Franziska Junge, Marcel Raabe, Daniel Zakharov, Anna Herms, Matthias Hübner, Sarah Hübscher, and Christopher Kreutchen.

06
Modern Gender Exhibition and Book Tour (s)
in collabortation with Gravur Verlag
&wieder, Cologne, GER

06
Modern Gender Exhibition and Book Tour (s)
in collabortation with Gravur Verlag
Studio Hausen, Hamburg, GER

06
Modern Gender Exhibition and Book Tour (s)
in collabortation with Gravur Verlag
GE59, Berlin, GER

05
Modern Gender (s)
Galerie M, Paris, FR



2022

12
Fun in the Sun (g)
Schnörres, Cologne, GER
with Jakub Koncir, Kalouna Toulakoun, Mo Schmittem, Leo Drenker, Lisa Pröbsting, Chiara Baluch, Alexander Seichter, Henk Aaron Szanto, Leonie Braun, Niels Freidel, Ute Behrend, Pusher Tony, Thekla Ehling, Pol et Simon, Serena Dallabetta, Philipp Treudt, Wolfgang Zurborn, Saskia Kinast and Antonia Gruber



2021

09
Aachener Kunstroute (g)
BOA – Bunker of Art, Aachen, GER

09
Poebel (g)
BOA – Bunker of Art, Aachen, GER



2020

09
Aachener Kunstroute (g)
BOA – Bunker of Art, Aachen, GER

07
Urbane Nachwelt (s)
Glashalle Aachen, GER

06
Positur#1 (g)
Stadtteilzentrum Nordstadt, Hannover, GER
with Charmaine de Heij, Sebastian Neubauer, Helge H. Paulsen and Jean D. Sikiaridis
curated by Helge H. Paulsen


2019

05
Streaming Pictures (g)
MAKK, Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Köln, GER











Contests
2025
Bellcollective x Fotomeyer: Inner Visions

Scholarships

2021–today
Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
2022
 Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft, NRW


Awards
2023
Shortlisted by Förderpreis für junge Buchgestaltung
2022
Nominee German Design Award 2023 – Newcomer


Invitations
2025
04
Symposium: The Activated Image
Fotomuseum Den Haag
Invited as a visual respondend for Daria Tuminas
organized by the Networked Audience research group

along with: Andrea Stultiens, Azin Nafarhaghighi, Daria Tuminas, Donald Weber, Julie de Ruijter,
Matteo Montaldo, Nurul Huda Rashid, Patricia Kühfuss, Randa Mirza, Sarah-Rose Antoun, Will Boase.
04
Workshop: Collective Feedback for Visual Work in Progress
FH Aachen, BA Communicationdesign
Photography Department with Lorenz Gaiser
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