This project is an exploration of queer culture in Berlin, created through a blend of documentary photography, portraiture, still life, and videos. While my background is rooted in commercial photography and direction—where precision, control, and polish are central—this work marks a conscious shift away from those constraints. I am consciously loosening my grip on perfection and allowing uncertainty, emotion, and instinct to guide the creation of these images.
As a queer woman of color arriving in Berlin as a stranger, my identity and perspective are inseparable from the project. My newness to the city—navigating unfamiliar streets, languages, and social codes—becomes part of the work itself. I am interested in what reveals itself when I allow the project to unfold, guided by curiosity rather than certainty. I love strangers and the brief, meaningful connections that arise when two lives intersect by chance—moments that feel touched by a little magic, as if they were meant to happen. This work grows out of those encounters, where coincidence and intention blur.
Berlin’s queer culture is expansive and layered, shaped by long histories of resistance, survival, and reinvention. Yet the visual language of queerness has too often centered white, male perspectives. This project shifts that frame, centering sapphic, POC-forward, and trans-forward narratives that resonate closely with my own experience. Collaboration is central to my process; the people I photograph are not subjects, but participants whose presence shapes the project as a whole.
This project is also about breaking away from the expectations of my commercial training, from the need to resolve every image, from the idea that I must arrive knowing what I am making. I am allowing myself to be changed by the process. There is excitement in not knowing where the work will lead, in trusting that the act of showing up—with curiosity and care—is enough.
Ultimately, this project reflects my life at this moment, shaped by a desire for connection, a comfort with solitude, and a willingness to move forward without a map. Rather than defining queer Berlin, the work seeks to witness it. Through this residency, I hope to create a body of work that feels honest, intimate, and alive, allowing space for the possibilities that emerge when we remain open to them.
