Collection: Steph A.

Steph A. lives and works in Hamburg. Their artistic practice explores queer identity, love, emotional pain, memory, and social cohesion. The starting point for their work is personal experiences that they connect with political and social issues.
Growing up in a small town near Cologne, they long lacked the terms and spaces to express their queer identity. It was only after graduating from high school and living in Hamburg that a more intense engagement with non-binarity, queer community, and visibility became possible. In parallel, their sociology studies particularly shaped their engagement with gender studies, social power relations, and concepts of love and care. Their works emerge from the tension between personal experience and social reality. Mental illnesses, invisibility, and vulnerability play just as much a role as resistance, intimacy, and collective strength. Through painting, photography, and installation, Steph A. creates spaces where queer experiences become visible and emotional states find physical expression.
Their own invisible disability also sensitized them to issues of inclusion and accessibility – themes that are increasingly incorporated into their artistic practice. They do not understand art as a retreat from politics, but as an opportunity to create visibility, share experiences, and imagine new forms of community.