Johanna Diehl
Johanna Diehl, selfportrait
Johanna Diehl (Hamburg, Germany, 1977) is a Berlin-based artist. „Johanna Diehl’s photographic eye is conceptual. First she forms an idea or a theme. Then she sets off in search of her motifs, and it is on her journeys that her concentrated works emerge“ (Swantje Karich, FAZ). In her early groups of works Diehl explored architectural testimonies such as synagogues in the Ukraine that subtly bear witness to geopolitical conflicts. For her, it is essentially about the question of memory and identity in modern-day Europe. „Diehl brings ideology and propaganda as well as politics and failure closely together with the aid of her large-format camera, ultimately rendering a complex image of reality.“ (Christoph Schütte, FAZ).
Johanna Diehl studied photography and visual arts at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig under Prof. Timm Rautert, Boris Mikhailov and as a master student under Prof. Tina Bara, as well as at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris under Christian Boltanski and Jean-Marc Bustamante. Her works have been shown at national and international exhibitions (Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg; UB Anderson Gallery Buffalo/NY; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Academy of Arts, Berlin; ZKM Centre for Art and Media, Karlsruhe; Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow; Paris Photo, Grand Palais, Paris; Haus am Waldsee Berlin) and are included in the Collection of Contemporary Art held by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Ann and Jürgen Wilde Foundation for Photography and Art Studies, the DZ Bank Art Collection, the Bavarian State Painting Collections, and the Collection at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich and others. The artist has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the Foundation Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn, the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (EHF), Berlin, the Robert Bosch Foundation (Grenzgänger), the Capital Cultural Fund for her solo show at Haus am Waldsee Berlin 2019, the Germany Academy Villa Massimo (Casa Baldi) in Rome.