Aline Papenheim
(*1997, Germany; they/them)
(*1997, Germany; they/them)
I am a neuroqueer and non-binary visual artist, photographer, writer, and artistic researcher based in The Hague, working between the Netherlands and western Germany.
My practice is grounded in my own body as a sensing, relational site shaped by land, dominant belief systems, and lived experience. Growing up in a rural Christian village in western Germany — marked by hunting traditions, post-war labour, and strict gender roles — deeply shaped how I relate to questions of belonging, control, and resistance. From this background, I learned to protest the very systems that shaped me in order to remain true to myself.
I work across photography, film, bookmaking, installation, and writing, often in the in-between and beyond — between human and more-than-human worlds, identity and ecology, documentary and reimagination. I create relational and emotional experiences that invite listening rather than speaking, and that encourage staying with uncertainty and not knowing. At the core of my work is a commitment to inclusion — in how stories are told, how bodies are addressed, and how audiences are invited to participate.
Through methods of listening, shapeshifting, and sensory storytelling, I develop alternative ways of seeing, making, and presenting work that resist hierarchy, speed, and productivity-driven expectations. I aim to engage audiences not as passive viewers, but as active participants in a shared process of sensing, questioning, and reimagining.
Alongside my artistic practice, I actively engage with the art world as a space that can be reshaped. Through research, peer-led initiatives, teaching contexts, and shared spaces for exchange, I work toward more caring and inclusive ways of working, communicating, and relating within the Dutch cultural field and beyond.
For me, art is not only a site of representation, but a tool for connection, inclusion, and collective transformation.
Photo by Nikos Kapetanios
Education & Work Experience
Today
Independent Photographer, Visual Artist & Designer
— Aline Pape, NL
Co-Teacher New Photo Economy
with Marga Rotteveel
Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, NL
2023–2025
Master of Arts in Fine Art and Design
Photography & Society
Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, Netherlands
with Marga Rotteveel
Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, NL
2023–2025
Master of Arts in Fine Art and Design
Photography & Society
Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, Netherlands
2019–2025
Independent Photographer & Visual Designer, GER
Independent Photographer & Visual Designer, GER
2019–2023
Scientific Assistant, Photography Department
FH Aachen University of Applied Science, Germany
2017–2022
Bachelor of Arts
Communicationdesign
FH Aachen University of Applied Science, Germany
graduated with the Badge of Honor of FH Aachen
Scientific Assistant, Photography Department
FH Aachen University of Applied Science, Germany
2017–2022
Bachelor 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
Vocational Diploma & Training as a Design-technical-assistant
Berufskolleg Bergkloster Bestwig, Germany
Exhibitions
2025
03
push pull shift (g)
Živi Atelje DK, Zagreb, HR
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Modern Gender Exhibition and Book Tour (s)
in collabortation with Gravur Verlag
GE59, Berlin, GER
05
Modern Gender (s)
Galerie M, Paris, FR
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
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
curated by Helge H. Paulsen
2019
05
Streaming Pictures (g)
MAKK, Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Köln, GER
Innitiatives
2025–today
Founder of SOFA TALKS
The Hague, NL
2025–today
Co-Host of Wanderstories
Utrecht, NL
2019–2022
The Circle Works
Aachen, GER
2020
BOA-Bunker of Art
Aachen, GER
2025–today
Founder of SOFA TALKS
The Hague, NL
2025–today
Co-Host of Wanderstories
Utrecht, NL
2019–2022
The Circle Works
Aachen, GER
2020
BOA-Bunker of Art
Aachen, GER
Scholarships
2021–2025
Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
GER
2022
Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft, NRW,
GER
Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft, NRW,
GER
Awards
2023
Shortlisted by Förderpreis für junge Buchgestaltung
Berlin, GER
Shortlisted by Förderpreis für junge Buchgestaltung
Berlin, GER
2022
Nominee German Design Award 2023 – Newcomer
GER
Nominee German Design Award 2023 – Newcomer
GER
Events
2025
11
Workshop: Collective Feedback for Visual Work in Progress
FH Aachen, BA Communicationdesign
Photography Department with Lorenz Gaiser
Workshop: Collective Feedback for Visual Work in Progress
FH Aachen, BA Communicationdesign
Photography Department with Lorenz Gaiser
04
Symposium: The Activated Image
Fotomuseum Den Haag
Invited as a visual respondend for Daria Tuminas
organized by the Networked Audience research group
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.
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
Workshop: Collective Feedback for Visual Work in Progress
FH Aachen, BA Communicationdesign
Photography Department with Lorenz Gaiser