Mit Euren Spuren (With Your Traces) is an interdisciplinary photography project that brings together six photographers from Munich with eight LGBTQIA+ seniors. The result is a transgenerational exchange about queer life and the experiences of the respective generations.
Over the course of a year, we documented these encounters through photographs, texts, and the artistic processing of archival materials. The goal of the project is to learn from the achievements of previous generations and to make the queer heritage visible.
The occasion for the project is the 30th anniversary of the abolition of the homophobic Paragraph 175, which criminalized sexual acts between men until 1994. This paragraph, first introduced into the German Penal Code in 1871, symbolized the decades-long discrimination and persecution of queer people. Despite the end of the Nazi regime in 1945, the paragraph remained in place and led to countless personal tragedies and social stigmatization. Its complete abolition in 1994 marked an important milestone in the recognition of the rights of LGBTQIA+ people in Germany and symbolizes the long journey toward equality and acceptance. This year, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of its abolition.
Content-wise, we focus on two central aspects: 'Aging Beyond the Cis-Heteronorm' and 'Queer Struggles.' We question the traditional milestones of cis-heteronormative biographies, such as first love, the exploration of one's own body during puberty, marriage, children, and aging within a family circle. In the biographies of queer people, especially those born more than 50 years ago, these milestones often take on a different form or are entirely absent.
You can order the photo book for the project either directly from us
or through the website of Distanz Verlag.
— Our protagonists
Richard Grammel (he/him), born in 1944 in Silesia, began his professional career as a decorator before completing a degree in theology, which he successfully finished. He then worked as a secondary school teacher in Munich for 30 years, until 2006, teaching German, religion, art, and history. In addition to his teaching career, Richard has been and continues to be active as an artist, with a focus on painting. After 43 years of marriage, his husband Heinrich Rösl passed away in 2021. Despite this loss, Richard continues to embrace life and finds joy in art. As often as possible, he travels and visits museums and exhibitions in cities such as Venice, Vienna, Berlin, Rome, and Paris.
Sabrina Berndt (she/her), born in 1955 in Neumarkt-Sankt Veit, Upper Bavaria, embodies the life of a self-determined and vibrant senior in Munich. She has been active in the drag scene since her youth and plays a vital role in the local LGBTQIA+ community as chairwoman of the Queer Archive Forum and as a member of the Rosa Liste. In the late 1980s, Sabrina experienced the challenges of the HIV pandemic firsthand, recalling a time when she had to attend a funeral every month. Her luck: her transition and the associated hormone therapy reduced her risk of infection. To live her 'true self,' Sabrina had to go through a difficult path, as until this year, Germany's 'Transsexual Law' governed the change of gender designation and first name for trans* people.
Christine Bandilla (she/her), born in 1950 in a small village between Lübeck and Hamburg, proudly refers to herself as a 'church lesbian.' Until her retirement, she worked as a software developer, writing code and contributing to the development of digital telephony. After coming out in the late 1980s, she gradually shifted her long-standing church involvement more and more toward the lesbian community within the Protestant Church. She is a co-founder and, as she proudly says, 'co-woman' of various networks where she continues to advocate for a more queer-friendly church. Christine lives in a women’s housing project in Munich-Riem – you can recognize her apartment from the street by the large rainbow flag waving from the balcony. A few minutes' walk from her home is the Riemer See, where she swims several laps a week.
Lising Pagenstecher (she/her), born in 1930 near Cologne, and her partner Renate Lettenbauer (she/her), born in 1941 in Augsburg, have been a couple for over 30 years and live together in Neuhausen-Nymphenburg in Munich. They met in the early 1980s through a women's singing project and still regularly sing together in a choir. You can often hear them singing together in their apartment as well. They enjoy attending theater performances, going to the cinema, or enjoying concerts together. They are also active in the Lesbensalon, a monthly gathering for like-minded women over 50, and are engaged in feminist activism beyond that.
Kornelia Kohler (she/her), born in 1958 in Lübeck, lives with her cats in the quiet outskirts of Munich. She discovered her love for women in her youth through professional sports. Her great passion for handball played a significant role in her life: in 1977, she participated in the Junior World Championship in Romania, followed by a World Championship in Hungary in 1982. After several failed relationships, Konni embarked on a journey of self-discovery and spent ten years on the island of Mallorca. Ultimately, homesickness drew her back to Bavaria. Due to her love of animals, she now works at an animal sanctuary. Together with her ex-wife, she has a son and a daughter.
Jürgen Pfennig (he/him), born in 1940 in Schweinfurt, and Hans-Thorsten Deneke (he/him), born in 1960 in Augsburg, met in 1983 at the Deutsche Eiche in Munich. Their relationship is marked by mutual respect and a shared interest in art, travel, and attending the opera. Jürgen comes from a butcher's family. After a serious traffic accident in what was then Yugoslavia, a lengthy hospital stay, and his first working years in banking and the hotel industry, he decided to pursue ceramics training in Landshut. Later, he renovated an old barn in Fahrenzhausen into a workshop and home, where they still live together today. Hans-Thorsten spent his youth in the USA and Spain but returned to Munich to study law. Before his retirement, he worked in the banking industry.
— Dates
10.10. - 30.11.2024 Exhibition at Alfons-Hoffmann-Haus of Münchenstift GmbH
28.09.2024 Exhibition at the Ander Art Festival München
07.07.2024 Spine Book Market: Mit Euren Spuren Book presentation + Talk in Berlin
13.06. - 23.07.2024 Exhibition at Seidlvilla München
24.06.-31.08.2024 Exhibition at Haus Heilig Geist of Münchenstift GmbH
22.05.2024 LesCommunity e.V. meets Habibi Kiosk: Mit Euren Spuren Talk
16.03. - 26.05.2024 Ms Brini Olsen as a prt of the exhibition for Förderpreis der Landeshauptstadt München
14. - 22.10.2023 Preview at Denkraum Deutschland 2023 – Hey Alter!
22. - 26.11.2023 Ms Brini Olsen as part of F3 Masterclass Portrait exhibition in Berlin
— About us
We, Stella Deborah Traub, Francesco Giordano, Mara Fischer, Florian Tenk, Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert, and Teo Apostolescu, are a team of six queer photographers, all living in Bavaria. We work as freelance artists for various projects, institutions, and magazines.
In recent years, we have worked on several independent projects. For example, some of us participated in the magazine project Rainbow Refugees (Stories), where we collaborated with young journalists to give queer refugees a voice and portray them. Another part of our team founded the artist collective queer:raum last year, through which we organize events like exhibitions and concerts in Munich.
You can reach us at: info@mit-euren-spuren.de
Stella Deborah Traub (she/they/no pronouns), born in 1996 in Öhringen, is a freelance photographer and filmmaker. They are studying documentary film direction at the HFF Munich and focus on queer feminist perspectives and storytelling in their work. Stella enjoys filming and photographing the people and places around them, capturing stories and always a little something beyond. Their film work has been shown internationally at various film festivals. Stella is part of the interdisciplinary Munich artist collective queer. Their photographs are regularly featured in group exhibitions and published in magazines and online publications. Among others, Stella has worked as a photographer with the Münchner Kammerspiele, the SPIELART Festival, and Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Francesco Giordano (he/him), born in 1992 in Nagold, is a queer photographer, visual artist, and curator living and working in Munich. In his projects, Francesco focuses on LGBTQIA+ issues and migration. He graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor's degree in Photography from the University of Applied Sciences in Munich. His artistic work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including at the Tollwood Festival in Munich (2019), the Belfast Photo Festival (2022), the Emigration Museum Ballinstadt in Hamburg (2020), and the group exhibition 'I have no words, there is no title' at the Rathausgalerie Munich (2022). Francesco has received several grants, including the VG Bild-Kunst Continuing Education Scholarship (2023) and the International/Intercultural Research Scholarship (2024). In the same year, Francesco was nominated for the photo award of Munich.
Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert (he/him), born in 1991 in Prien am Chiemsee, lives and works as a queer artist between Berlin and Munich. Ohlert primarily focuses on portraiture, capturing personalities from the fields of art, fashion, and queer culture, with a particular emphasis on the people and their stories. He self-published his first photobook, 'Gender as a Spectrum,' in 2016. Joseph studied at the renowned Ostkreuz School of Photography in Berlin, where he graduated in 2015. In addition to further studies at the University of the Arts in Fine Arts under Prof. Tilman Wendland and later Prof. Monica Bonvicini, he opened his own creative space, P7 GALLERY, in Berlin. Joseph has worked with a wide range of publications (VOGUE, Zeitmagazin, SZ, Spiegel, Rolling Stone, Siegessäule, and many more) and regularly exhibits his work in solo and group exhibitions worldwide. He is currently working on a new book about larger-bodied men, which is set to be published by Kettler Verlag at the end of 2024.
Mara Fischer (no pronouns), born in 1992 in Cologne, lives and works between Munich and Essen. Mara's work is conceptual, often significantly referencing the narrative tools of photography. Many works address both socially relevant and personal themes. After successfully completing a B.A. in Design with a focus on Photography at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich, Mara immediately began the Master's program in Photography Studies and Practice at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen (expected graduation at the end of 2024). Mara's works have been published in various magazines and exhibited in several galleries. The current work 'Fragments Of A Blind View' (2023), which deals with AI-generated photographic images, is part of this year's 'Düsseldorf Photo +' group exhibition 'Leap of Faith: Transmediale Fotografie,' on display at the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Düsseldorf until September 15, 2024.
Florian Tenk (he/him), born in 1990 in Dachau, is an artist and photographer from Munich. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and completed his studies in 2018 as a master student under Prof. Dieter Rehm. Florian often incorporates queer themes into his work, especially when he is portraying people. He combines these with images of objects and places to convey and express a specific mood and his thoughts. His works consist of a combination of staged photographs and spontaneous snapshots. In his work, he continuously explores his environment, using photographic fragments to create an alternative, often utopian vision of the world he would like to live in. Florian regularly participates in exhibitions, including the group exhibition 'Alles Immer Jetzt' (2022, Gallery of Artists, Munich), the group exhibition 'Marionetten/Hinter der Bühne' (2021, Municipal Gallery of Kharkiv, Ukraine), and his solo exhibition 'Der Wind weht und die Jungen weinen' (2019, Galerie Zernik, Munich). He has won several awards, including the 2021 'Junge Kunst und neue Wege' scholarship from the Free State of Bavaria, as well as funding awards from the cultural promotion of LfA Förderbank and the Fanny-Carlita Foundation in Munich.
Teo Apostolescu (she/they), born in 2001 in Munich, is currently in her 4th semester studying Photo Design at the university in her hometown. Outside of her academic photography work, she often enjoys exploring street, portrait, and documentary photography. Through analog photography, Teo has started experimenting with other analog creative processes and has found joy in alternative ways of working that offer a creative medium beyond photography, even without a camera. In addition to photography, she is interested in political topics and would like to combine these with photography in the future. In 2024, Teo will move to Berlin for her practical semester.
— Presse
MONOPOL MAGAZIN – Fotobuch über queere Senioren
"Fucking awesome, cute und wunderschön" (by Saskia Trebing)
MANNSCHAFT MAGAZIN — 30 Jahre nach §175:
Ausstellung und Buch über 8 queere Senior*innen
WDR 1Live – Intimbereich – Pride Month: "Mit Euren Spuren"
mit Josef und Richard (Podcast)
Süddeutsche Zeitung – Geschämt habe ich mich nie:
Eine queere Community, zwei Generationen (by Luca Lang)
MANNSCHAFT MAGAZIN — Crowdfunding:
Projekt über Queers im Alter – 30 Jahre nach §175 (by Greg Zwygart)
Süddeutsche Zeitung – Queer im Alter: Künstler begleiten
LGBTIQ-Seniorinnen und Senioren (by Stefanie Witterauf)
— Supportes
Imprint, 2024
You can order the photo book for the project either directly from us or through the website of Distanz Verlags.
Mit Euren Spuren (With Your Traces) is an interdisciplinary photography project that brings together six photographers from Munich with eight LGBTQIA+ seniors. The result is a transgenerational exchange about queer life and the experiences of the respective generations.
Over the course of a year, we documented these encounters through photographs, texts, and the artistic processing of archival materials. The goal of the project is to learn from the achievements of previous generations and to make the queer heritage visible.
The occasion for the project is the 30th anniversary of the abolition of the homophobic Paragraph 175, which criminalized sexual acts between men until 1994. This paragraph, first introduced into the German Penal Code in 1871, symbolized the decades-long discrimination and persecution of queer people. Despite the end of the Nazi regime in 1945, the paragraph remained in place and led to countless personal tragedies and social stigmatization. Its complete abolition in 1994 marked an important milestone in the recognition of the rights of LGBTQIA+ people in Germany and symbolizes the long journey toward equality and acceptance. This year, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of its abolition.
Content-wise, we focus on two central aspects: 'Aging Beyond the Cis-Heteronorm' and 'Queer Struggles.' We question the traditional milestones of cis-heteronormative biographies, such as first love, the exploration of one's own body during puberty, marriage, children, and aging within a family circle. In the biographies of queer people, especially those born more than 50 years ago, these milestones often take on a different form or are entirely absent.
— Our protagonists
Richard Grammel (he/him), born in 1944 in Silesia, began his professional career as a decorator before completing a degree in theology, which he successfully finished. He then worked as a secondary school teacher in Munich for 30 years, until 2006, teaching German, religion, art, and history.
In addition to his teaching career, Richard has been and continues to be active as an artist, with a focus on painting. After 43 years of marriage, his husband Heinrich Rösl passed away in 2021. Despite this loss, Richard continues to embrace life and finds joy in art. As often as possible, he travels and visits museums and exhibitions in cities such as Venice, Vienna, Berlin, Rome, and Paris.
Sabrina Berndt (she/her), born in 1955 in Neumarkt-Sankt Veit, Upper Bavaria, embodies the life of a self-determined and vibrant senior in Munich. She has been active in the drag scene since her youth and plays a vital role in the local LGBTQIA+ community as chairwoman of the Queer Archive Forum and as a member of the Rosa Liste.
In the late 1980s, Sabrina experienced the challenges of the HIV pandemic firsthand, recalling a time when she had to attend a funeral every month. Her luck: her transition and the associated hormone therapy reduced her risk of infection. To live her 'true self,' Sabrina had to go through a difficult path, as until this year, Germany's 'Transsexual Law' governed the change of gender designation and first name for trans* people.
Christine Bandilla (she/her), born in 1950 in a small village between Lübeck and Hamburg, proudly refers to herself as a 'church lesbian.' Until her retirement, she worked as a software developer, writing code and contributing to the development of digital telephony.
After coming out in the late 1980s, she gradually shifted her long-standing church involvement more and more toward the lesbian community within the Protestant Church. She is a co-founder and, as she proudly says, 'co-woman' of various networks where she continues to advocate for a more queer-friendly church. Christine lives in a women’s housing project in Munich-Riem – you can recognize her apartment from the street by the large rainbow flag waving from the balcony. A few minutes' walk from her home is the Riemer See, where she swims several laps a week.
Lising Pagenstecher (she/her), born in 1930 near Cologne, and her partner Renate Lettenbauer (she/her), born in 1941 in Augsburg, have been a couple for over 30 years and live together in Neuhausen-Nymphenburg in Munich.
They met in the early 1980s through a women's singing project and still regularly sing together in a choir. You can often hear them singing together in their apartment as well. They enjoy attending theater performances, going to the cinema, or enjoying concerts together. They are also active in the Lesbensalon, a monthly gathering for like-minded women over 50, and are engaged in feminist activism beyond that.
Kornelia Kohler (she/her), born in 1958 in Lübeck, lives with her cats in the quiet outskirts of Munich. She discovered her love for women in her youth through professional sports. Her great passion for handball played a significant role in her life: in 1977, she participated in the Junior World Championship in Romania, followed by a World Championship in Hungary in 1982.
After several failed relationships, Konni embarked on a journey of self-discovery and spent ten years on the island of Mallorca. Ultimately, homesickness drew her back to Bavaria. Due to her love of animals, she now works at an animal sanctuary. Together with her ex-wife, she has a son and a daughter.
Jürgen Pfennig (he/him), born in 1940 in Schweinfurt, and Hans-Thorsten Deneke (he/him), born in 1960 in Augsburg, met in 1983 at the Deutsche Eiche in Munich. Their relationship is marked by mutual respect and a shared interest in art, travel, and attending the opera. Jürgen comes from a butcher's family. After a serious traffic accident in what was then Yugoslavia, a lengthy hospital stay, and his first working years in banking and the hotel industry, he decided to pursue ceramics training in Landshut. Later, he renovated an old barn in Fahrenzhausen into a workshop and home, where they still live together today. Hans-Thorsten spent his youth in the USA and Spain but returned to Munich to study law. Before his retirement, he worked in the banking industry.
— Dates
10.10. - 30.11.2024 Exhibition at the Alfons-Hoffmann-Haus of Münchenstift GmbH
28.09.2024 Exhibition at the Ander Art Festival München
07.07.2024 Spine Book Market: Mit Euren Spuren Book Presentation + Talk in Berlin
13.06 - 23.07.2024 Exhibition at Seidlvilla München
24.06.-31.08.2024 Exhibition of our project at Haus Heilig Geist of Münchenstift GmbH
22.05.2024 LesCommunity e.V. meets Habibi Kiosk: Mit Euren Spuren Talk
16.03. - 26.05.2024 Ms Brini Olsen as part of the group exhibition Förderpreis der Landeshauptstadt München
14. - 22.10.2023 Preview at Denkraum Deutschland 2023 – Hey Alter!
22. - 26.11.2023 Ms Brini Olsen as part of F3 Masterclass Portrait exhibition in Berlin
— Über Uns
Wir, Stella Deborah Traub, Francesco Giordano, Mara Fischer, Florian Tenk, Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert und Teo Apostolescu, sind ein Team aus sechs queeren Fotograf*innen, die alle in Bayern leben. Wir arbeiten als freie Künstler*innen für verschiedene Projekte, Institutionen und Magazine.
In den letzten Jahren haben wir an mehreren freien Projekten gearbeitet. Ein Teil von uns hat beispielsweise am Magazinprojekt Rainbow Refugees (Stories) teilgenommen, für das wir gemeinsam mit jungen Journalist*innen queere Geflüchtete zu Wort kommen lassen und sie porträtiert haben. Ein anderer Teil hat im letzten Jahr das Künstler*innenkollektiv queer:raum gegründet, mit dem wir in München Formate wie Ausstellungen und Konzerte realisieren.
Ihr erreicht uns unter:
Stella Deborah Traub (she/they/no pronouns), born in 1996 in Öhringen, is a freelance photographer and filmmaker. They are studying documentary film direction at the HFF Munich and focus on queer feminist perspectives and storytelling in their work. Stella enjoys filming and photographing the people and places around them, capturing stories and always a little something beyond. Their film work has been shown internationally at various film festivals. Stella is part of the interdisciplinary Munich artist collective queer. Their photographs are regularly featured in group exhibitions and published in magazines and online publications. Among others, Stella has worked as a photographer with the Münchner Kammerspiele, the SPIELART Festival, and Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Francesco Giordano (he/him), born in 1992 in Nagold, is a queer photographer, visual artist, and curator living and working in Munich. In his projects, Francesco focuses on LGBTQIA+ issues and migration. He graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor's degree in Photography from the University of Applied Sciences in Munich. His artistic work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including at the Tollwood Festival in Munich (2019), the Belfast Photo Festival (2022), the Emigration Museum Ballinstadt in Hamburg (2020), and the group exhibition 'I have no words, there is no title' at the Rathausgalerie Munich (2022). Francesco has received several grants, including the VG Bild-Kunst Continuing Education Scholarship (2023) and the International/Intercultural Research Scholarship (2024). In the same year, Francesco was nominated for the photo award of Munich.
Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert (he/him), born in 1991 in Prien am Chiemsee, lives and works as a queer artist between Berlin and Munich. Ohlert primarily focuses on portraiture, capturing personalities from the fields of art, fashion, and queer culture, with a particular emphasis on the people and their stories. He self-published his first photobook, 'Gender as a Spectrum,' in 2016. Joseph studied at the renowned Ostkreuz School of Photography in Berlin, where he graduated in 2015. In addition to further studies at the University of the Arts in Fine Arts under Prof. Tilman Wendland and later Prof. Monica Bonvicini, he opened his own creative space, P7 GALLERY, in Berlin. Joseph has worked with a wide range of publications (VOGUE, Zeitmagazin, SZ, Spiegel, Rolling Stone, Siegessäule, and many more) and regularly exhibits his work in solo and group exhibitions worldwide. He is currently working on a new book about larger-bodied men, which is set to be published by Kettler Verlag at the end of 2024.
Mara Fischer (no pronouns), born in 1992 in Cologne, lives and works between Munich and Essen. Mara's work is conceptual, often significantly referencing the narrative tools of photography. Many works address both socially relevant and personal themes. After successfully completing a B.A. in Design with a focus on Photography at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich, Mara immediately began the Master's program in Photography Studies and Practice at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen (expected graduation at the end of 2024). Mara's works have been published in various magazines and exhibited in several galleries. The current work 'Fragments Of A Blind View' (2023), which deals with AI-generated photographic images, is part of this year's 'Düsseldorf Photo +' group exhibition 'Leap of Faith: Transmediale Fotografie,' on display at the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Düsseldorf until September 15, 2024.
Florian Tenk (he/him), born in 1990 in Dachau, is an artist and photographer from Munich. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and completed his studies in 2018 as a master student under Prof. Dieter Rehm. Florian often incorporates queer themes into his work, especially when he is portraying people. He combines these with images of objects and places to convey and express a specific mood and his thoughts. His works consist of a combination of staged photographs and spontaneous snapshots. In his work, he continuously explores his environment, using photographic fragments to create an alternative, often utopian vision of the world he would like to live in. Florian regularly participates in exhibitions, including the group exhibition 'Alles Immer Jetzt' (2022, Gallery of Artists, Munich), the group exhibition 'Marionetten/Hinter der Bühne' (2021, Municipal Gallery of Kharkiv, Ukraine), and his solo exhibition 'Der Wind weht und die Jungen weinen' (2019, Galerie Zernik, Munich). He has won several awards, including the 2021 'Junge Kunst und neue Wege' scholarship from the Free State of Bavaria, as well as funding awards from the cultural promotion of LfA Förderbank and the Fanny-Carlita Foundation in Munich.
Teo Apostolescu (she/they), born in 2001 in Munich, is currently in her 4th semester studying Photo Design at the university in her hometown. Outside of her academic photography work, she often enjoys exploring street, portrait, and documentary photography. Through analog photography, Teo has started experimenting with other analog creative processes and has found joy in alternative ways of working that offer a creative medium beyond photography, even without a camera. In addition to photography, she is interested in political topics and would like to combine these with photography in the future. In 2024, Teo will move to Berlin for her practical semester.
— Press
MONOPOL MAGAZIN – Fotobuch über queere Senioren "Fucking awesome, cute und wunderschön" (by Saskia Trebing)
MANNSCHAFT MAGAZIN —30 Jahre nach §175: Ausstellung und Buch über 8 queere Senior*innen
WDR 1Live – Intimbereich – Pride Month: "Mit Euren Spuren" mit Josef und Richard (Podcast)
Süddeutsche Zeitung – Geschämt habe ich mich nie: Eine queere Community, zwei Generationen (by Luca Lang)
MANNSCHAFT MAGAZIN — Crowdfunding: Projekt über Queers im Alter – 30 Jahre nach §175 (by Greg Zwygart)
Süddeutsche Zeitung – Queer im Alter: Künstler begleiten LGBTIQ-Seniorinnen und Senioren (by Stefanie Witterauf)
— Supporters
Imprint, 2024