STATES OF REBIRTH – The photographed body in motion

Assistant to curator Nadine Isabelle Henrich

With works by KhingWei Bai, Felipe Romero Beltrán, Moshtari Hilal, Naomi Lulendo, Ana Maria Sales Prado, Roxana Rios, Aykan Safoğlu, Isaac Chong Wai and Farren van Wyk

Bodies are storytellers, whether in everyday life or in choreographed movements. Our poses and postures can be seen as the reflection on our embedding in social power structures. At the same time, they can be used as a medium for self-empowerment, resistance and transformation. From 21 February to 17 August, the exhibition States of Rebirth at Deichtorhallen Hamburg examines the correlation between the body, movement and societal structures in physical and digital spaces, through a focus on documentary and conceptual projects in Performance-, Portrait and Dance-Photography.


The exhibition traces how our understanding of the gaze – from one body to another, the seer to the seen – has reversed, and how these aesthetic principles might help dismantle our sense of belonging. As Moshtari Hilal formulates it in her at-once poetic, autobiographic and analytically precise essay Hässlichkeit (Ugliness, 2023): »The gaze has turned: it is not those who are looked at who are ugly, but those who look with the intention to dehumanize.« A separate room is dedicated to her artistic research and exploration of her own family archive entitled Sculpture and Perfection at the last section of the exhibition.

PHOXXI, Temporary House of Photography, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
21.02.2025 – 17.08.2025
Assistant to curator Nadine Isabelle Henrich

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