Sophia Kesting (b. 1983 in Leipzig) is a visual artist, photographer, researcher and educator based between Leipzig and Brussels. Her intersectional feminist practice brings together artistic research, writing, collective processes and political engagement. Since 2010, her work has been exhibited in galleries, museums and independent art spaces in Germany and internationally. Since 2012, she has collaborated with Dana Lorenz on the long-term photographic project Asphalt, Steine, Scherben.
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Kesting studied Visual Communication at HTW Berlin and Photography and Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB), where she received her diploma in 2016 and completed her postgraduate Meisterschülerin studies under Prof. Joachim Brohm in 2018. From 2018 to 2023, she was an Artistic Associate in Photography at HGB Leipzig. She is currently pursuing a practice-based PhD at KU Leuven/LUCA School of Arts in Brussels. In 2025/26, she served as interim head of Prof. Ricarda Roggan’s Photography Class at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart.
Taking artistic documentary photography as her point of departure, Kesting expands the medium through autofictional writing, sound, archival materials and lecture performances. In her installations and long-term projects, she examines systems of social order and the tensions between past and present. Her work focuses on the Peaceful Revolution in the GDR, German reunification and the subsequent period of transformation, addressing their enduring social consequences within both German and European contexts.
2026–27
Teaching position in the Photography Department (25% appointment), LUCA School of Arts, Brussels, Belgium
2025–26
Visiting professorship in the photography class of Prof. Ricarda Roggan and seminar instructor for Subversion as Artistic Practice, Academy of Fine Arts (abk–), Stuttgart Founding and board member of the Un/learning Art and Design Education e.V. network
Since 2023
Founding member of the academic network “Un/learning art and design education e.V.”
2018–23
Artistic Associate in Photography (60% position), Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB); working with Prof. Joachim Brohm (2018–2021) and Dr. Ines Schaber (2021–2023)
2016, 2017
Teaching two seminars on photography, evening academy, HGB Leipzig
2010
Employee at Eigen + Art Gallery, Berlin
2009
Founding member of the art space “Boulevard Parabol” | Kottbusser Tor, Berlin
2006–09
Assistant to the photographer Uwe Walter, Leipzig and Berlin
2025
PhD in practice in the arts | KU Leuven, LUCA – school of Arts, Brussels, Belgium
2016–18
Post Graduate Degree in Fine Arts Photography – Meisterschülerin, Prof. Joachim Brohm, Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB), Leipzig
2017
Guest student with Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, University of Fine Arts (HfbK), Hamburg
2010–16
Diploma in Fine Arts Photography, Class for Photography and Media, Prof. Joachim Brohm, Anna Voswinckel, Dr. Christina Natlacen, HGB Leipzig
2006–10
Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communication, University of Applied Sciences, Berlin
2004
Semester abroad: “Course de la langue et civilisation française”, Sorbonne, Paris
2003–06
Studies of Educational Sciences, French Studies, Hispanic Studies, University of Leipzig | Sorbonne, Paris
2026
Artist Residency | Villa Empain | Boghossian Foundation, Brussels
Shortlisted for the Stiftungspreis Fotokunst | Klein collection, Eberdingen-Nussdorf
Shortlisted for the 10th Merck Award, Darmstadt Days of Photography, Darmstadt
Artist residency | Studio Meridional | Marseille, France
2025
Artist Residency | Künstlerhaus Lukas | Ahrenshoop, Baltic Sea
2024
Work grant | Stiftung Kunstfonds | Bonn
2023
German Photobook Award | Bronze Medal | Rewriting the Photographic Image
Artist Residency | Almresidency | Alpine foothills near Munich
Kunstfonds, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden | Förderankauf der Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen
Project funding | Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, and catalogue funding | Leipzig Cultural Office, for Asphalt, Steine, Scherben
2022
Nominated for a residency at the Cité internationale des arts, Paris
2021–22
Recurring residency fellowship | FOTOHOF>ARCHIV | Salzburg
2021
Stiftung Kulturwerk of VG Bild-Kunst | NEUSTART KULTUR | Bonn
Project funding for Asphalt, Steine, Scherben | Leipzig Cultural Office
2019
Project and catalogue funding for Trakt IV | Leipzig Cultural Office; Karin and Uwe Hollweg Foundation
2012–18
Study scholarship | Cusanuswerk, Episcopal Scholarship Foundation | Bonn
2026
– Book discussion on Asphalt, Steine, Scherben with Nora Gitter, Baukultur Leipzig, Global Hub, Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz, Leipzig
– Private Images, Public History: Performing Photography, Archive, and Revolution | lecture performance | ENACT Festival – Performing Research, LUCA School of Arts, Brussels
– In the Face of Change: East | Portrait | Photography, performative reading at the DGPh Symposium, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Halle (Saale)
– This Is It | reading at the Studio Meridional artist residency, Marseille
– Guest lecture, Department of Design (Photography), Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences
2025
– The Things We Carry – Upheaval, Bodies, Resistance | Sonia Voss in conversation with Sophia Kesting, Dana Lorenz and Luise Schröder | FOTOTREFF #45, SANKT STUDIO, Berlin
– Contemporary Artistic Perspectives on the Aftermath of German Reunification | symposium with Sophia Kesting, Dana Lorenz, Eric Meier, David Polzin | Forum, Hamburger Bahnhof – National Gallery of Contemporary Art, Berlin
– Guest lecture | photography class of Tina Bara | Department of Photography, Leipzig Academy of Fine Arts (HGB), Leipzig
– At the Beach | Reading with sound | Künstlerhaus Lukas, Ahrenshoop
– The 1989 Revolution – Gestures of Protest | Performative reading | LUCA School of Arts, Brussels, Belgium
– Reading and artist talk with Sophia Kesting and Dana Lorenz, moderated by Christin Müller | Vexer Verlag, Berlin
2024
– Book launch and reading, Asphalt, Steine, Scherben | MZIN Bookshop | Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig
– Book launch and conversation, Asphalt, Steine, Scherben | Vexer Verlag, Berlin
– Sound performance | Lothringer 13 Halle, Munich
2025
Asphalt, Stones, Shards, 2012–2024 | Vexer Verlag | EMOP, Berlin
2022–23
Rewriting the Photographic Image | FOTOHOF gallery | Salzburg, Asutria
2021
Asphalt, Stones, Shards, 2012–2021 | Gallery ODP | f/stop Festival for Photography, Leipzig
2019
Trakt IV | Gallery for Contemporary Art (GfZK), Leipzig
2018
KORRELAT | Ortloff Art space, Leipzig
Asphalt, Steine, Scherben | Gallery 3 Ringe, f/stop 8th Festival for Photography, Leipzig
2017
Retreat | Loriza Art space, Berlin
2016
DER PLATZ | Tapetenwerk, Leipzig
2015
Status Quo, Photographs by Sophia Kesting & Dana Lorenz | Museum of City History, Leipzig
2026
Foundation Prize for Photographic Art | Collecting Klein, Eberdingen-Nussdorf
Visual Spaces of Solidarity | Villa Heike, Berlin
10th Merck Award Exhibition | Darmstadt Days of Photography, Darmstadt
2025
LISTE | Porte, Leipzig
2024–25
Exhibition – Billboard | cotton mill, Leipzig
2024
Spaces | Werkschauhalle, Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig
Alm residency #8 | Lothringer 13 Halle, Munich
2023
WIN/WIN Art acquisitions of the State of Saxony | Halle 14, Centre for Contemporary Art, Leipzig
TRAFO | Annual exhibition in Leipzig, Halle 12, Baumwollspinnerei Leipzig
2021
Dosis I + Dosis II | Institute for the Future (IFZ), Leipzig
Chrysantheme | Studio H18 Spinnerei, Leipzig
2020
Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz | Intervention, City office Leipzig
17.7. Artists of the gallery | ODP Gallery, Leipzig
2019–20
PREVIOUS | Galerie Drei Ringe, Leipzig
I Engineer | WERKSCHAU Halle 12, Baumwollspinnerei Leipzig
Modern Iconography. Photography, Bauhaus and the Consequences 1919–2019| Art Museum, Magdeburg
2018–19
RIGHT THERE! 7 first encounters | Fo.Ku.S, BTV bank, Innsbruck, Austria
2018
Picturing Realities: Constructed, Cropped and Reassembled | Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Düsseldorf
2017–18
Il deserto rosso now Photographic reactions to Antonioni‘s film classic | Photographic collection | SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne
2017
SUPER VISION | Lange Straße 31, Frankfurt on the Main
Red desert now! 30 artists and the heritage of Michelangelo Antonioni | L’Ospitale, Rubiera, Reggio Emilia, Italy
2016
There is no Colour but some Ideas how Things might be | f/stop 7th Festival for Photography | Gallery 3 Ringe, Leipzig
Portfoliowalk | DFA | Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
2015
There is no Colour but some Ideas how Things might be (Asphalt, Steine, Scherben) | Work presentation | Conference of the German Photographic Academy Grassimuseum, Leipzig
2014
There is no Colour but some Ideas how Things might be | f/stop 6th Festival for Photography, Kunstraum Ortloff, Leipzig
2013
Places you should know II | Gallery of the HGB, Leipzig
Places you should know I | Kunstverein, Leipzig
2011
2nd Zine and Independent Publishers Fair | Kunsthalle, Vienna, Austria
20th Selection exhibition of the Cusanuswerk Artist Sponsorship Programme | University gallery | Halle
2010
The view from here | Boulevard Parabol art space, Berlin
2026
Exhibition catalogue: Stiftungspreis Fotokunst | KUNSTWERK | Sammlung Klein
2024
Asphalt, Steine, Scherben, 2012–2024 | Vexer Verlag, Berlin
2023
Rewriting the Photographic Image | FOTOHOF edition | Salzburg, Austria
2022
Exhibition catalogue: Dosis III, Institute for the Future (IFZ) | Spector Books, Leipzig
2021
Magazin: Image production in the Mansfeld region | Werkleitz Magazin, Halle
2020
Magazin: In Transit | Academy of Fine Arts, Leipzig
2019
Exhibition catalogue: Modern Iconography. Photography, Bauhaus and the Consequences 2019 | Art Museum Magdeburg | E. A. Seemann Verlag, Leipzig
STICK TOGETHER | Academy for transcultural exchange (ATA) | HGB, Leipzig
2018
KORRELAT, Vinyl 12 Schallplatte + Leporello
Exhibition catalogue: GENAU DA! 7 erste Begegnungen | Fotohof edition, Salzburg
Exhibition catalogue: Picturing Realities | Verlag Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf
2017
Exhibition catalogue: The streets, the factories, the colors, the sky, the people | Fotohof edition | Salzburg, Austria
2015
Exhibition catalogue: Status Quo | City History Museum, Leipzig
2013
Exhibition catalogue: Places you should know | Kunstverein, Leipzig