Aline Papenheim
(*1997, Germany; they/them)
I position myself as a visual artist, photographer, writer, and artistic researcher based in The Hague, working between the Netherlands and western Germany from a queer and neurodivergent perspective.
Photo by Nikos Kapetanios
Background
Growing up in a rural Christian village in western Germany, shaped by hunting traditions, post-war labour culture, and rigid gender roles, informed my understanding of belonging, control, resistance, and the complexity of lived experience. This background continues to influence my practice and drives me to question and protest the very systems that shaped me, while exploring identity, social structures, and diverse ways of relating to the world.

Practice
My practice spans artistic projects, commissioned work, community-based formats, and education. Working across photography, film, bookmaking, installation, writing, and visual design, I create exhibitions, publications, visual identities, and collaborative formats often accompanied by public programs, readings, and workshops. My approach is rooted in sensitivity toward space, bodies, and more-than-human beings.

Themes
My work explores the relationships between photographic documentary and reimagination, identity and ecology, and human and more-than-human worlds. Through installations, publications, events, and participatory formats, I create emotional and relational experiences that invite slower forms of listening, uncertainty, and alternative ways of relating. 
At the core of my practice is a commitment to inclusion, both in how stories are told and in how bodies and audiences are addressed.


Approach
Holding an MA in Photography & Society from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK), I work with methods of listening, shapeshifting, collaboration, and sensory storytelling to develop alternative ways of seeing, making, and presenting work that resist hierarchy, speed, and productivity-driven expectations. I invite audiences not as passive viewers, but as active participants in shared processes of sensing, questioning, and reimagining.
Alongside my artistic practice, I actively engage with the cultural field through research, peer-led initiatives, teaching contexts, and collective formats that work toward more caring and inclusive ways of communicating, working, and relating.

For me, visual art is not only a site of representation, but also a space for connection, inclusion, and shared transformation.
Education 
2023–2025
Master of Arts in Fine Art and Design
Photography & Society
Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, NL

2017–2022
Bachelor of Arts
Communicationdesign
FH Aachen University of Applied Science, GER
graduated with the Badge of Honor of FH Aachen

Awards, Grants & Scholarships
2026
Dokumentarfotografie Förderpreise 16 
awarded by the Wüstenrot Stiftung and Museum Folkwang
2021–2025
Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
Scholarshipholder
2023
Förderpreis für junge Buchgestaltung
Shortlisted
2022
Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft, NRW, GER
Scholarshipholder
German Design Award 2023 – Newcomer
Nominee
Festivals

2026
BredaPhoto Festival (g)
In The Forest Behind My Father's House 
Breda, NL
2023
Fotofestival Aachen, Allianzen (g)
Modern Gender
Raststätte, Aachen, GER

Selected Exhibitions 
2026
In The Forest Behind My Father's House (s)
Berghaus - Akademie für Kunst und Kultur
Stockum (Sauerland), GER
The Queer Art Show The Hague (g)
COC, The Hague, NL
2025
Inner Visions (g)
Selected for Photocontest by FotoMeyer x Bell Collective
Berlin, GER
push pull shift (g)
Živi Atelje DK, Zagreb, HR
2024
Fragments in Transit (g)
Beetroot Studio, Thessaloniki, GR

2023
Nouvelles Masculinités (g)
Galerie M, Paris, FR
Modern Gender Tour (s)
Exhibition and Bookpublication with Gravur Verlag
Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, GER
Modern Gender (s)
Galerie M, Paris, FR

2021
Aachener Kunstroute (g)
BOA – Bunker of Art, Aachen, GER



Writing & Publications 
2026
Shapeshifting
Article published through APRIA Open Call 

2025
In The Forest Behind My Father's House 
Self-Published Artist Zine
Presented by the Royal Academy of Art at Polycopies and Les Rencontres d'Arles
2023
Modern Gender: Masculinities
Published by Gravur Verlag
Shortlisted for the Förderpreis für junge Buchgestaltung


Professional Experience
2025–Today
Co-Teacher New Photo Economy 
Research Group on Commoning
Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, NL
2019–Today
Independent Photographer, Visual Artist & Writer
2019–2023
Scientific Assistant, Photography Department
FH Aachen University of Applied Science, GER

Public Programs
2026
Sofa Talk #2
FOTODOK, Utrecht, NL
Wanderstories x FUTURES 
Peer-to-Peer Feedback Sessions
FUTURES Hub, Amsterdam

2025
The Activated Image
Symposium participant & visual respondent for Daria Tuminas
Fotomuseum Den Haag, NL
Wanderstories  
Peer-to-Peer Feedback Sessions
FOTODOK, Utrecht








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