Stieglitz 19

Jessica Backhaus: Leading Voice in Contemporary German Photography

Jessica Backhaus (b. 1970, Cuxhaven, Germany) is widely regarded as one of the most influential contemporary photographers in Germany today. Raised in an artistic family, she moved to Paris at the age of sixteen, where she studied photography and visual communication. In 1992, she met the legendary photographer Gisele Freund, who became her mentor and had a lasting impact on her artistic development.

In 1995, Backhaus relocated to New York City, where she worked as a photography assistant, developed her own projects, and lived until 2009. Her time in New York marked a critical period of growth and experimentation, helping shape her distinctive visual style.

Backhaus’s work is characterized by a poetic and intimate approach to everyday subjects, often focusing on color, light, and abstraction. Her photography explores themes of memory, fragility, and transience, placing her among the foremost female voices in international contemporary art photography.

Her photographs have been exhibited in major solo and group exhibitions around the world, including:

• National Portrait Gallery, London

• Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin

• MARTa Herford, Germany

• Kunsthalle Erfurt, Germany

To date, Jessica Backhaus has published ten acclaimed photobooks, mostly with Kehrer Verlag (Heidelberg), including:

• Jesus and the Cherries (2005)

• What Still Remains (2008)

• One Day in November (2008)

• I Wanted to See the World (2010)

• One Day – 10 Photographers (2010)

• Once, Still and Forever (2012)

• Six Degrees of Freedom (2015)

• A TRILOGY (2017)

• Far Away but Close (2019, Another Place Press, Scotland)

• Cut Outs (2021)

Her work is also featured in Women Photographers by Boris Friedewald (Prestel Verlag, 2014 & 2018), a significant publication highlighting key female figures in photography.

Jessica Backhaus’s photographs are part of renowned art collections worldwide, including:

• Taunus Sparkasse, Germany

• Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Germany

• ING Art Collection, Belgium

• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA

• The Margulies Collection, Miami, USA

Backhaus continues to live and work in Germany, creating deeply personal images that resonate with universal emotion and timeless beauty.