Apollo Magazine

Katharina Sieverding

Political art, text-based works and flamboyant self-portraits by the German photographer go on show in Düsseldorf

Deutschland wird deutscher (Germany is Becoming More German) (1992), Katharina Sieverding. Photo: © Klaus Mettig/VG Bild-Kunst; © Katharina Sieverding/VG Bild-Kunst

This major survey at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf is dedicated to award-winning photographer Katharina Sieverding, featuring works from across her 60-year career as well as rarely shown archival materials (1 November–23 March 2025). A former student of Joseph Beuys at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where she studied stage design, film and sculpture, Sieverding imbues her works with theatrical flair: for some of her self-portraits, for example, she photographed her face, painted with gold dust, numerous times and displayed each image side by side along entire gallery walls. Sieverding, however, is not just focused on the self; in large-format photographs she also confronts social and political issues, such as gender inequality and the rise of German nationalism – see Deutschland wird deutscher (‘Germany is Becoming More German’) (1992), a response to reunification. Find out more from the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen’s website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary

Continental nucleus I (1983), Katharina Sieverding. Photo: © Klaus Mettig/VG Bild-Kunst; © Katharina Sieverding/VG Bild-Kunst

Looking at the Sun at Midnight III (1973), Katharina Sieverding. Photo: © Klaus Mettig/VG Bild-Kunst; © Katharina Sieverding/VG Bild-Kunst

THE GREAT WHITE WAY GOES BLACK (1977), Katharina Sieverding. Photo: © Klaus Mettig/VG Bild-Kunst; © Katharina Sieverding/VG Bild-Kunst

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