Exhibition
(Almost) Everyone Anyone, by Sibylle Fendt

Sa, 03.06.2023 –
Sa, 15.07.2023
18:00 Uhr Goethe-Institut Washington @ The Liz

Saturday, June 3, 6:00pm - Exhibition opening and artist talk with Sibylle Fendt, curator Andrea Nelson (National Gallery of Art), and photographer Astrid Riecken
RSVP to Opening

Join the Goethe-Institut for an artist talk and opening reception of (Almost) Everyone Anyone by photographer Sibylle Fendt, who will be in conversation with Andrea Nelson, Associate Curator of Department of Photographs at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and Pulitzer price-winning photographer Astrid Riecken.

This exhibition is presented in partnership with the Goethe-Institut in Toronto, and supported by the Berlin Senate Department of Culture. The exhibition is on view at the Goethe-Institut Washington June 3 - July 15, 2023.

Showcasing Sibylle Fendt's latest portraits, the exhibition is the artist's first in the USA. (Almost) Everyone Anyone offers up exuberant encounters with Peaches, Pussy Riot, Kis' Keya, and dozens more.

A member of the renowned agency Ostkreuz, Berlin photographer Sibylle Fendt is known for her medium-format analog work. She portrays DJs, authors, photographers, and performers she appreciates for their signature style and gutsy choices – all united by a feminist attitude. The solo show (Almost) Everyone Anyone, accompanied by books and artist statements, looks through an intercultural lens on gender justice, diversity, and portraiture. “My images show personalities, not genders,” says Fendt, providing extraordinary views on positions with a clear stance that inspire to frame one's own.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Sibylle Fendt, born 1974, studied philosophy, sociology and art history in Karlsruhe, Germany, and photography at Städelschule Frankfurt with Wolfgang Tillmans. Fendt has been working as an independent photographer since 2002 and won the Kodak Young Talent Award the same year. In 2003, she participated in the biennale Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie in Bamako, Mali, and the World Press Photo Joop Swart Master Class. Fendt lives and works in Berlin. A member of Ostkreuz Agency, she teaches at Ostkreuz School of Photography and Design. She was named one of the 100 most important young Germans by NEON magazine.

Andrea Nelson is associate curator, in the department of photographs at the National Gallery of Art, where she has worked since 2010. She received her PhD from the University of Minnesota, focusing on 20th-century art and the history of photography. Andrea came to the Gallery as a graduate curatorial intern in 2007 and later held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for the Study of Modern Art at the Phillips Collection. She has published essays on German and American photography books, as well as organized several exhibitions, including The New Woman Behind the Camera (2021); The Memory of Time: Contemporary Photographs from the National Gallery of Art Acquired with the Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund (cocurator, 2015); and A Subtle Beauty: Platinum Photographs from the Collection (2014). She also serves as cochair of the museum's Time-based Media Art Working Group. In addition to her curatorial work, Andrea has taught courses on writing for the decorative arts, modern and contemporary art, and the history of photography.

Astrid Riecken is a 2022 Pulitzer prize-winning photographer, based in Washington, DC. Since 2016, Riecken has taught at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design of George Washington University and since 2020 at the School of Communication at American University.

Riecken has won numerous awards in Picture of the Year International (Poyi), National Press Photographers Association's Best of Photography (BOP) and the White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA) competition in which she was named "Photographer of the Year" in 2014. In 2022, nominated by The Washington Post, she won as part of a team the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the coverage of the assault on Washington on January 6, 2021.

Riecken frequently freelances for international publications including Getty Images and The Washington Post. Her work has been published by The Washington Post, The New York Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, The Guardian, and Die Zeit, among many others.


Part of the Goethe-Institut’s focus on Global Feminisms. The event is free and open to the public.