Birthe Piontek is a visual artist living on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples in Vancouver BC, Canada.
Biography
Birthe Piontek is a visual artist whose practice moves across photography, AI image generation, textile work, historical printing processes, and drawing. At the centre of her work is a sustained inquiry into image, memory, and history, personal and collective, and the question of what photographs can and cannot hold. How images construct identity. What they carry forward, and what they lose.
Her photo-based projects have explored Germany's post-war history and divided identity, the gendered archive of domestic life, the unstable relationship between objects and memory, and the way photographs both preserve and distort the lives they claim to document. Across these bodies of work, the photograph is treated not as evidence but as a site of negotiation: between the visible and the invisible, the recorded and the imagined, the personal and the historical.
Her current research, developed during an extended period in Japan, expands this inquiry into new territory: the intersections of generative AI, analogue material practice, and neuroscience. Working with archival photographs, diary entries, and spoken memories as source material, she generates images that never existed, plausible reconstructions of a life built from its own residue.
Piontek is the author of four photography books. The Idea of North won the Critical Mass Book Award and was published by Photolucida in 2011. Abendlied received the Edward Burtynsky Grant in 2018 and was nominated by Time Magazine as one of the best photobooks of 2019. Janus was published in 2021, and Zero Hour in 2025.
She received her MFA from the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, and is Associate Professor of Photography at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada. Her work is held in public and private collections internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and the Museum of Applied Arts in Gera, Germany.
Solo shows
Zero Hour, MIBU Projects, Kyoto, Japan, 2025
Still Life (two-person), Hedreen Gallery, Seattle, USA, 2023
Janus Part II, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, Canada, 2022
Abendlied, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, USA, 2022
Janus, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, Canada, 2020
Janus, Part of Platforms 2020 : Public Works, Vancouver, Canada, 2020
Abendlied, CONTACT Festival Toronto, Canada, 2019
Lacuna, (Public Art Project) City Hall Station, Vancouver, Canada, 2019
I want to be with those who know secret things, Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver, Canada, 2019
Abendlied, Guernsey Photography Festival, Guernsey, UK, 2018
Interspace (two person), Gallery Jones, Vancouver, Canada, 2018
Catch a falling knife, Film Forum, Seattle, USA, 2017
Miss Solitude, Access Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, 2017
Lying Still, Perspectives Gallery, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, USA, 2016
Mimesis, Flash Forward Festival, Boston, USA, 2016
Her Story, Violet Strays, Seattle, USA, 2016
Lying Still, Gallery 295, Vancouver, Canada, 2015
The Idea of North, VU, Quebec City, Canada, 2012
The Idea of North, Gallery Kominek, Berlin, Germany, 2011
The Idea of North, ODD Gallery, Dawson City, Canada, 2010
Sub Rosa, Gallery Kominek, Berlin, Germany, 2008
Group shows
Character Builder, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, Canada, 2025
Joy and Absurdity, Strata Editions, Livingston, USA, 2025
20TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, Canada, 2024
Splash Art Auction, Pendulum Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, 2023
feel good now and later, Study Hall Gallery, Pratt MWP, 2023
Good Advice & Other Recipes, Athens Photo Festival, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, 2022
The Collective Agency Project, Pendulum Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, 2022
Family Album, Pendulum Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, 2022
Inherit, Art Gallery Evergreen, Coquitlam, Canada, 2022
Subject-Object, Brush Art Gallery, St. Lawrence University, Canton, USA, 2022
Shaping Identity: A Non-Linear Journey, The Baldwin Photographic Gallery, Murfreesboro, USA, 2021
Source Material, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, USA, 2021
Together Again, Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver, Canada 2021
Necroflora, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, Canada 2021
Small Scale Right Hemisphere: Part Two, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, Canada 2021
The Female Side of the Moon, Galerie Z22, Berlin, Germany, 2021
Good Witch Bad Witch, Museum of Museums, Seattle, USA, 2020
Festival Fotografischer Bilder, Regensburg, Germany, 2020
Tiff Festival, Wroclaw, Poland, 2020
In this body of mine, Frederick Layton Gallery, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, USA, 2019
Dwelling: People and Place, Gordon Smith Gallery, North Vancouver, Canada, 2019
Undomesticated, Koffler Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 2019
Sanctum, Big Medium, Austin, USA, 2019
Zuhause – Vonovia Award für Fotografie, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany, 2019
Photographing the Female, Beacon Gallery, Boston, USA, 2019
Inaugural, SAMple Gallery, University of North Carolina, USA, 2019
In Plain Sight, Parker Street Studios, Vancouver, Canada, 2018
Portraits: Hellerau Photography Award, Dresden, Germany 2018
Trash cans for hearts and people have no soul, Fotofestiwal Lodz, Poland, 2017
Photographing the Female, Focus Festival, Mumbai, India, 2017
Collective Thinking, For Freedoms, Aperture Foundation, New York, USA, 2017
Just Visiting, Soil Gallery, Seattle, USA, 2016
Out of Sight, King Street Station, Seattle, USA, 2016
L'Autre visage, Portrait & experimentations photographique, Pole Image, Rouen, France, 2016
Dear Jenny, We Are All Find, April + Vignettes Gallery, Seattle, USA, 2016
Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award Arles, Arles, France, 2015
The Liberia Pure Honey Project, Make Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, 2015
Tomorrow has passed, One-Eyed Jacks Gallery, Brighton, UK, 2015
Hyeres, Fashion and Photography Festival, Villa Noailles, Hyeres, France, 2014
Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, USA, 2012
Variations Fantomes, OFF Interarts, Montreal, Canada, 2011
Les Battements, Maison de la culture Frontenac, Montreal, Canada, 2010
Graphic Intersections & The Portrait As Allegory, Umbrage Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA, 2010
Exposed: Critical Mass Top 50, Photo Center NW, Seattle, USA, 2010
Aenne Biermann Prize 2009, Museum for Applied Arts, Gera, Germany, 2010
Arte Laguna Art Prize, Finalists, Venice Arsenale, Venice, Italy, 2010
The AIPAD Photography Show, Park Avenue Armory, New York City, USA, 2009
Kodak Celebrating The New Faces of Photography: The 2008 PDN 30,
Helen Mills Theater, New York, USA, 2008
Portrait II, Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2008
Bienvenue, Ten photographers show their vision of home,
Maison de la culture Frontenac, Montreal, Canada, 2008
Ne Plus Ultra The Hey, Hot Shot Annual, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York City, USA, 2008
Hey Hot Shot Fall 07, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York City, USA, 2007
Emerging Photographers 07, Street Art Project, Magenta Foundation, Toronto, Canada, 2007
Emerging Photographers 06, Magenta Foundation,
Lennox Contemporary Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 2006
Kodak Young Talent Awards 2004-2006, Visual Gallery at Photokina, Cologne, Germany, 2006
Warm Up, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany, 2004
Awards
Belfast Photo Festival, Photo Book Winner, Ireland, 2026
German Photo Book Award, Silver Medal, Germany, 2025
Artist Residency, MIBU Projects, Japan, 2025
SSHRC Institutional Grant (SIG), Canada, 2024
Hariban Juror’s Choice Award, Japan, 2024
Henri-Nannen-Preis, shortlisted, Germany, 2020
Project Grant, British Columbia Arts Council, Canada, 2019
Prix Pictet, nominated, UK, 2019
Vonovia Photo Award, shortlisted, Germany, 2018
Artist Residency, Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver, Canada, 2018
Edward Burtynsky Grant, Scotiabank CONTACT Festival, Toronto, Canada, 2018
Guernsey Photography Award, shortlisted, Guernsey, UK, 2018
Project Grant, British Columbia Arts Council, Canada, 2017
Edward Burtynsky Grant, shortlisted, Canada, 2016
Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award Arles, nominated, France, 2015
AIMIA AGO Photography Award, Long List, Canada, 2014
Hyeres, Fashion and Photography Festival, France, 2014
Project Grant, British Columbia Arts Council, Canada, 2012
Travel Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, Canada, 2010
Arte Laguna Art Prize, Finalist, Venice, Italy, 2010
Critical Mass Top 50 and Book Award, Photolucida, USA, 2009
Aenne Bierman Prize, 3rd Place, Germany, 2009
International Photography Awards, Honorable Mention, USA, 2009
Otto Steinert Prize, Honorable Mention, DGPH, Germany, 2009
Santa Fe Prize for Photography, Finalist, USA, 2009
Artist Residency, KIAC, Dawson City, Canada, 2008
Descubrimientos PHE, Photo Espana, Spain, 2008
Photo District News PDN'S 30, USA, 2008
KLM Paul Huf Award, Nomination, Foam Museum Amsterdam, 2008
Santa Fe Project Competition, Juror's Choice Award, Center, USA, 2007
Otto Steinert Prize, Honorable Mention, DGPh, 2007
Kodak Young Talent Award, Germany, 2005
PhotoVision, Germany, 2003
RAG Photojournalism Award, Germany, 2000
Publications and press
Hariban Award 2024, Benrido Atelier, Japan, 2025
OUTS, Skylark Editions, USA, 2022
analog magazine, Switzerland, issue 11, 2021
Vostok, issue 28, South Korea, 2021
Monthly Photography, issue 04, South Korea, 2021
In this Body of Mine, Strangefire Collective, USA, 2020
Keeper of the Hearth, Picturing Roland Barthes’ Unseen Photograph, USA, 2020
Laatikkomo – six degrees of photography, Finland, 2019
ThereThereNow, issue Four, USA 2019
Ciel Variable, issue 113, Canada, 2019
Stern – Gesund Leben, October issue, Germany, 2019
Photonews, May issue, Germany, 2019
PDN Magazine, March issue, USA, 2019
Prefix Photo Magazine, issue 38, Fall / Winter, Canada, 2018
British Journal of Photography, July issue, UK, 2018
Portraits - Hellerau Photography Award, exhibition catalogue, Dresden, Germany, 2018
dienacht, Magazine for Photography, Design and Sculpture, issue 20, Germany, 2017
Lux, Archeology of Photography Foundation, Poland, 2017
Girl on Girl: Art and Photography in the Age of the Female Gaze, Laurence King Publishing, UK, 2017
Justified Magazine, issue 4, UK, 2016
Blow Photo, issue 14, Ireland, 2016
Brett Magazine, issue 1, South Korea, 2016
Better Photography, March issue, India, 2015
Hyeres Fashion and Photography Festival, exhibition catalogue, Hyeres, France, 2014
Photo +, May issue, South Korea, 2014
Ciel Variable, issue 94, Canada, 2013
Blink Magazine, issue 14, South Korea, 2012
PDN Magazine, Fine Art Photography issue, USA, 2012
Blackflash, Fall 2010, issue 28.1, Canada, 2010
Aenne Bierman Prize 2009, Museum for Applied Arts, exhibition catalogue, Gera, Germany, 2010
Arte Laguna Art Prize 2009, Arte Laguna Foundation, exhibition catalogue, Venice, Italy, 2010
Galleries West, Issue Summer 2009, Canada, 2009
The Collectors Guide to Emerging Art Photography, Humble Arts Foundation, USA, 2009
Sub Rosa, Gallery Kominek, Berlin, Germany, 2008
PDN 30, Photo District News, USA, 2008
Visions Magazine, China, 2008
Spot Magazine, Houston Center of Photography, USA, 2008
Emerging Photographers 2007, The Magenta Foundation, Toronto, Canada, 2007
Emerging Photographers 2006, The Magenta Foundation, Toronto, Canada, 2006
Kodak Young Talent Awards 2004-2006, Kodak GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany, 2006
Public Folder, issue 1, John Harten, Cologne, Germany, 2006
Zuhause, Kodak, Stuttgart, Germany, 2003