Boga and I in Accra, 2022, picture by Daniel Feistenauer.
Artist Statement
My artistic practice investigates silenced structures of control that shape domestic, intimate and everyday spaces. Through long-term collaborations and participatory forms of artistic research, I explore how vulnerability, dependency, care and resilience manifest across human and animal lives.
Over the past decade, I have worked internationally in Brussels, Athens, Paris, Havana and, since 2017 mainly in Accra, often in close collaboration with communities whose experiences remain underrepresented in public narratives. My projects are informed by sustained relationships with female sex workers, survivors of domestic violence, social workers, healthcare professionals and other collaborators whose knowledge and lived experiences become integral to the work itself.
Rather than documenting trauma directly, I am interested in the often invisible systems that sustain social taboos, silence and unequal power relations, as well as the possibilities for care, solidarity and collective healing.
Horses have become central protagonists within this research. As prey animals, their heightened sensitivity to their environment offers a unique perspective on fear, trust, vulnerability and social hierarchies. Their presence allows me to approach questions of power beyond exclusively human perspectives and to examine the interconnection between human wellbeing, animal welfare and mental health.
Since 2017, Ghana has become a central site of my artistic research. I completed a PhD in Sculpture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, where I developed interdisciplinary collaborations with local horse communities, veterinary professionals, social workers and researchers. In 2019, I founded THE SIX FREEDOMS, an initiative dedicated to the care of neglected horses and the development of interspecies approaches to wellbeing, education and community engagement.
Working across photography, installation, text, performance and socially engaged practices, I understand artistic research as a collaborative process that brings together different disciplines, forms of knowledge and lived experiences. My work seeks to create spaces in which difficult-to-articulate subjects can emerge and where new perspectives on care, coexistence and responsibility can be negotiated.
I welcome interdisciplinary collaborations, exhibitions, research projects and conversations that connect art, care, education and social transformation.
BASED BETWEEN HAMBURG AND ACCRA
Ghana +233 26 789 2237
Germany +49 172 5444470
CV
Ulla Deventer
1984, Henstedt-Ulzburg, Germany
Artist, researcher and educator based between Hamburg, Germany and Accra, Ghana.
Education & Research
2024
PhD in Sculpture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
2018–2024
Artistic research and interdisciplinary collaborations in Ghana, with a focus on human–horse relationships, mental health, domestic spaces and interspecies care
2018–2019
Research student, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten), Antwerp, Belgium
2014
Master of Fine Arts (Photography), Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten), Antwerp, Belgium
2012
Diploma in Visual Communication, University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK), Hamburg, Germany
2007
Study abroad, École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, France
Selected Professional Activities
Since 2019
Founder of THE SIX FREEDOMS, Ghana – an initiative dedicated to horse welfare, interspecies care and community-based educational projects
2004
Assistant to fashion photographer Iris Brosch, Paris, France
Awards and Nominations
2023 Nomination for the EMOP Arendt Award 2023
2019 Nominated for the ING UNSEEN TALENT AWARD 2019
2019 Supported by TIME-LABS: Cuba Photography Missions
2018 Selected for the .tiff Talent 2018 by the Fotomuseum Antwerpen
2018 Selected for the “Ones to Watch 2018” by the British Journal of Photography
2018 Shortlisted for the CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE 2018
2018 Scholarship holder at Rudolf Augstein Foundation
2018 Finalist of the Life Framer Award, judged by Alison Morley
2017 Finalist of the Lens Culture Emerging Talent Awards 2017
2017 Winner of the 2018 Organ Vida International Photography Festival Solo Exhibition within the PHM Women Photographers Grant
2017 Nominee at the 2017 Photogrvphers Grant
2017 Honourable mention at Life Framer Award, selected by Katerina Stathopoulou, curator at MoMA, New York.
2017 Scholarship holder at VG Bildkunst
2014 „I‘ve Never Been Big Sick“ was nominated for the Horlait Dapsens Foundation Award
2013 2nd winner of the Opus Fotografiepreis
Exhibitions
2025. Vielfest Festival Bern with Zoe Binetti and their performance, „Dinner for Humans and Horses“
2024 IN YOUR EYES, PhD VIVA exhibition, KNUST Campus, August 2024
2023 EMOP Luxembourg and Lisbon
2023 Multi-Media exhibition at the Villa of Giovanna Tisgi, Kumasi
2022 Video Installation at the KNUST Animal Science Department
2022/04 Multimedia Installation SG Mall Kumasi
2022/02 “Where are you from?” CC Mechelen, Belgium
2019/11 UNSEEN AMSTERDAM ING Unseen Talent Award
2019/06. FUMU Antwerp, tiff talents, opening 28 June
2019/04 FESITVAL CIRCULATION(S), at Centquatre Paris until July 21st
2018/08 Galerie MELIKE BILIR, solo exhibition, Hamburg, DE
2018/09 Organ Vida International Photography Festival, solo Exhibition, Zagreb, HRV
2018/03 Klompching Gallery NYC LensCulture Emerging Talents Awards, NYC
2018/02. BIP Biennale de l’image possible, Luik, Belgium
2017/12 This Art Fair Amsterdam2017/11 Photo Vogue Festival Milan, IT
2017/03 PORTRAITS Hellerau Photography Award, Europäisches Zentrum der Künste, Dresden, DE
2017/05 Boutographies – Rencontres Photographiques de Montpellier, F
2016/11 ARTSCAPE, Luxembourg, House 17, LUX
2016/04 Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie, Centralstation Darmstadt, DE
2016/03 Galerie magazin, Therezin, CZE
2015/09 Encontros Da Imagem Photofestival, Braga, PT
2014/11 CBK Amsterdam, curated by Bob Konsten, Bougie Art Foundation, NL