JURY STATEMENT
Pia Vogel shows that the private, the personal, the local is deeply meaningful. Queer solidarity, learning from each other and supporting each other on a direct personal level of love, care and community is powerful and heroic.
QUEEROES – QUEER HEROES
Pia Vogel shows their own queer heroes, queer people in everyday life, friends, family of choice, their own safe(r)/brave(r) community. In a series of snapshot-like encounters, they take us to the relationships most close to their heart. Learning from each other, sharing appreciation, solidarity, care and love – queer heroes of the local, the personal, the private. You can see that their protagonists feel comfortable, their lens is not an alien device for scanning or inspecting, it is a reflection from within.
BIOGRAPHY
Pia Vogel began working with acrylic painting in 2017, which was followed quickly by photos and needle and thread. This led to a broader focus on collages, which often integrate newspaper clippings, photos and painting. Thematically, they usually deal with their own experiences in their art, which are connected with social discourses. Experiences of patriarchy and (queer) feminism are a recurring theme. Pia Vogel sees their art as a way of taking up space for themself and wants to convey a feeling of being seen and hope to themself and the viewer. Pia Vogel exhibited as part of the exhibition „Fragmente“ in 2022 at Altes Volksbad Mannheim and as part of the music and culture festival „Das neue deutsche Tanzcafe“ in 2023 at the JUZ Friedrich Dürr Mannheim. In 2024 they showed their first own exhibition „Cutting Through Realities“ at Altes Volksbad Mannheim.
JURY STATEMENT
Pia Vogel zeigt, dass das Private, das Persönliche, das Nahe zutiefst bedeutsam ist. Queere Solidarität, voneinander Lernen und sich gemeinsam Tragen im Kleinen, ist groß und held*innenhaft.
QUEEROES – QUEER HEROES
Pia Vogel zeigt deren eigene queere Held*innen, queere Menschen im Alltag, Freund*innen, Wahlfamilie, die eigene safe(r)/ brave(r) Community. In einer Serie von snapshotartigen Begegnungen, nimmt they uns mit zu den Beziehungen, die they selbst ganz nahe sind. Gemeinsam voneinander lernen, Wertschätzung teilen und solidarisch sein – queere Held*innentaten des Nahen, des Persönlichen, des Privaten. Man sieht, dass deren Protagonist*innen sich wohl fühlen, deren Kamera kein Ablichten, kein Inspizieren ist, es ist ein Blick von innen, den wir teilen dürfen.
BIOGRAFIE
Pia Vogel begann 2017 sich mit Acrylmalerei auseinanderzusetzen, welche schnell durch Fotos sowie Nadel und Faden ergänzt wurden. Daraus entstand ein weiter ausgebreiteter Fokus auf Collagen, auf denen häufig Zeitungsausschnitte, Fotos und Malerei integriert werden. Mit der Integration von Fotos in die von Pia Vogel geschaffene Kunst hat they begonnen, aktiver und überlegter sowohl für Collagen als auch abseits davon für die Fotografien an sich zu fotografieren. Thematisch beschäftigt they sich in deren Kunst meist mit eigenen Erfahrungen, die in gesellschaftliche Kontexte eingeordnet werden. Kontinuierlich tauchen dabei Erfahrungen im Patriarchat und (Queer-)Feminismus auf. Pia Vogel betrachtet deren Kunst als eine Möglichkeit, sich selbst einen Raum zu nehmen und möchte sich selbst sowie Betrachtenden ein Gefühl von Gesehen Sein und Hoffnung vermitteln. Pia Vogel hat im Rahmen der Ausstellung „Fragmente“ 2022 im Alten Volksbad Mannheim und im Rahmen des Musik- und Kulturfestivals „Das neue deutsche Tanzcafe“ 2023 im JUZ Friedrich Dürr Mannheim Bilder ausgestellt. 2024 hat they deren erste eigene Ausstellung „Cutting Through Realities“ im Alten Volksbad Mannheim gezeigt. Bisher hat Pia Vogel Fotos als Teile von Collagen ausgestellt. Umso mehr freut they sich, deren Fotos und die darauf dargestellten Queer Heroes nun auch als Kunstwerke, die für sich selbst stehen, erstmalig teilen zu können.
Transitions as lived stories of heroism. Mathis Benestebe shows how you can become a hero for and within yourself, connecting the concentrated autobiographical opening of the series with other parallel trajectories, human experiences of transition, all of which ultimately find different forms of embodiment.
Growing old as a queer person and thriving is an accomplishment till this day. This in itself makes the subjects heroes and role models for a lot of lgbtqia+ people. The joy and playfulness of the series is a fresh and well needed tone of representation.
Meret Eberl does not, in the best possible way, close-cut capture her protagonists and their experiences. In her compositions, there is room for questions and space for the human experience.
The series „Life without a Parachute“ shows great and grand moments in queer history and significant, far-reaching success stories, celebrated stars and individuals who fought for political achievements for the queer community far beyond the US-American context.
Lou Fajardo shows everyday heroes in the Philippines who gently and tenderly create spaces of care and self-care. The series emphasizes the desire for legal protection and justice for the LGBTQIA+ communities in the Philippines.
The series House of Realness raises the question of agency and representation through stereotypical imagery and expectations of specifically gay queerness in the townships of Johannesburg, but also creates space for new, heroic imaginations.
Kuln’zu’s portrait series shows young queer people from the cultural scene of Nairobi (Kenya), visionary heroes who create spaces for visibility and representation in a powerful cultural and artistic practice.
Chantal Regnault’s series is iconic. She gives us heroes that continue to echo and reverberate around the world. Ballroom is held up as a place of self-realization, of protection, of family of choice, but also of courage.
Bela Varadi’s heroes celebrate their queerness and “Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT)” identity as an enigmatic and celebratory fusion. The protagonists not only shine in the photographs themselves, expressing themselves, but are also active in activism, educational work and community work.
Pia Vogel shows that the private, the personal, the local is deeply meaningful. Queer solidarity, learning from each other and supporting each other on a direct personal level of love, care and community is powerful and heroic.
In a particularly fluid and poetic way, Cansu Yıldıran sheds light on queer people who have been subjected to violence. Through the use of documentary imaginations, Cansu Yıldıran creates a kind of mythical space for the empathetic, loving commemoration of heroes whose names have not (yet) been commemorated.
