lecturer

Biography
1960 born in Schwerin/Germany
1982–87 Photography studies, Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig, diploma
1990–99 Member of the group of artists EIDOS
1993–95 Photography graduate studies, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig
2005–07 Lecturer at the Braunschweig University of Art
since 2017 Lecturer at the Ostkreuzschule
lives and works in Berlin
maria.sewcz[at]ostkreuzschule.de
Fellowships and working grants (selection)
2016 Fellowship, Istanbul-Stipends, Senate Department for Cultur, Berlin
2013 Fellowship, Villa Serpentara, Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts), Berlin
2011 Fellowship, Villa Massimo Rome, German Academy Rome
2005 Dorothea-Erxleben-Grant, Braunschweig University of Art
2003 Hannah-Höch-Förderpreis (award), Senate Offices for Science, Research and Culture, Berlin
1999 Working grant from the foundation Kunstfonds, Bonn
1998 Working grant fine art, Senate Offices for Science, Research and Culture, Berlin
1994 Working grant for fine art photography from the DZ BANK, Frankfurt/Main
Solo shows (selection)
2016 «Jetzt, Berlin» (Photographs and videos 2013–16), Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin
2008 «Fotografie», Sprengel Museum Hannover
2004 «point out», Photographs from 1985–2004, Haus am Waldsee, Internationale Kunst in Berlin
1995 «un», Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt/Main
Group exhibitions  (selection)
2016 «Physical: Sex and the Body in the 1980s», LACMA, Los Angeles
2012 «Geschlossene Gesellschaft», Berlinische Galerie, Museum of Modern Art, Berlin
2009 «Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures», LACMA, Los Angeles
2009 «Übergangsgesellschaft», Szenen und Porträts, Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts), Berlin
2003 «Kunst in der DDR», Kunst und Ausstellungshalle Bonn, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
Maria Sewcz
The theme of urbanity, the tension between what has been built, grown and lived, all stand at the centre of my art practice. I design photographic perspectives that take analytical steps through space and time. These perspectives are taken from the present and form a space of the possible. My photographs are the result of authentic artistic reaction, a sign of an individual bestowing of meaning within an unlimited system of signs.
«In (her pictures) you can search like a detective for stories that might have taken place in this one square metre of the city. Questions always remain: the pictures are very concrete and also very open. Sewcz always selects the significant section that says more in its seeming incompleteness than a classically well-composed photograph. These images of an everyday life heightened through form also often contain political particles, a social analysis from the corner of the eye.»
(Text: Alexander Gumz)