An innovative photography exhibition titled 'Trace of Us' is currently taking place in Chemnitz, featuring collaborative works from 31 female photographers from Germany and the Czech Republic. The exhibition emerged from a partnership between two photography collectives: the Czech group Sisters in Photography and the German Female Photoclub, both organizations dedicated to promoting greater diversity and visibility in the field of photography.
The exhibition is housed at the Garage Campus in Chemnitz, a former streetcar depot that has been transformed into a creative hub for cultural exchange. This venue serves as one of 30 intervention spaces designated for projects and transformations in Chemnitz, aimed at creating lasting impact beyond the current year. The choice of Chemnitz as the exhibition location is particularly significant, as the city serves as the European Capital of Culture 2025, making it an ideal border city for artistic dialogue between Germany and the Czech Republic.
Both participating organizations are committed to challenging the traditionally male-dominated field of photography by promoting visibility, exchange, support, and cross-cultural networks. The exhibition presents diverse photographic approaches and techniques, ranging from documentary work and self-staging to archival materials, landscape photography, and fashion photography. The overarching themes that unite all the presented works center on questions of identity, origin, and the nature of memory.
The subjects explored in the exhibition are both profound and varied, covering transgenerational trauma and experiences of forced adoptions in East Germany, forced sterilizations in former Czechoslovakia, and Prague's underground subculture. Notable works include Wlasta Laura's project 'Unspoken Things,' which draws on the tradition of folk costumes, incorporating their symbolism, rules, and supposed magical power.
German-Czech artist Angelika Zinzow presents her photo series 'Layers of Transition,' consisting of analog double exposures that visually overlay two living spaces: Prague and Frankfurt am Main. Created as a continued visual diary from the end of her Prague residency to Frankfurt, the work reflects the interconnection of two places and identities, capturing the emotional complexity of cultural transition.
Stefanie Grobe's photographs explore identity as something fragile and changeable through self-portraits created between 2017 and 2024. According to the artist, these works deliberately avoid documentary or historical frameworks, instead directing focus inward toward spaces, moods, and emotional states. Her introspective approach offers viewers a deeply personal perspective on self-discovery and transformation.
Bára Prášilová contributes 'The Three of Us' from her series 'Circles,' while photographers Paulina Metzscher and Amelie Sachs, working alongside author and filmmaker Eva Gemmer, present 'What Happened and Never Happened.' This collaborative work dedicates itself to the family stories of people who fell victim to the system of forced adoptions in the former East Germany, shedding light on a dark chapter of recent European history.
Tereza Kopelentová's series 'A Land Possessed by Darkness' references a popular Czech song from the 1960s that frequently played at the end of psychedelic Prague soirées. The photographer was temporarily part of a scene that revived the psychedelic sixties, or at least their idea. Her images provide an intimate glimpse into this subculture while reflecting on her role as an observing participant and questioning why the prospect of reliving an era we never personally experienced fascinates us.
Jolana Havelková presents her project 'Fleeting Encounters,' for which she experimented with an enlarger apparatus. The uniqueness of her protagonists becomes blurred and transformed into masks, calling into question the objectivity and reliability of the photographic medium itself.
Lenka Grabicová's work 'Anti Baby Cycle' documents a particularly troubling aspect of recent history. Since the 1970s, forced sterilizations were common practice in Czechoslovakia, based on medical guidelines and applied until the 1990s. The practice primarily affected Roma women and women from poor families. Grabicová's photographs document the stories of women whose lives were permanently shaped by these sterilization orders, giving voice to survivors of systematic oppression.
Kate Kuklinski's series 'Not Here i nie tam' (Not Here and Not There) explores themes of origin, belonging, and the in-between state of past and present, drawing from her own family history. Her family originates from Bytom in Upper Silesia, a region marked by border shifts and relocations. According to the artist, her works are carried by longing for a place never fully known, a foreign language, and a homeland that constantly relocates itself.
Katharina Dubno's series 're-creation' accompanies the life of her cousin Izabela and her fellow sisters. After years in a Carmelite monastery, they founded their own house for seekers in Żarki Letnisko, Poland. Dubno documents their daily life between prayer, work, and contemplation, searching for forms to make the spiritual depth of this life visible. Through intensive engagement with the biographies and new identities of the sisters – Jonathana, Augusta, Waltertia, and Elizeusza – she sharpens her view of the essential: the connection between past and present.
The exhibition represents a significant cultural exchange between neighboring countries, using photography as a medium to explore shared histories, individual experiences, and collective memory. Through their collaborative effort, Sisters in Photography and the Female Photoclub demonstrate the power of cross-border artistic partnerships in addressing complex social and historical issues while promoting greater gender diversity in the visual arts.
