Esther Siddiquie: Discussion and Open Studio

China Hopson (* 1987, Stuttgart) is an Afro-German photographer who grew up in Germany and the USA. 
After completing a three-year professional training as a portrait photographer, she studied for a bachelor’s degree in “Photojournalism & Documentary Photography” at the University of Hanover. After successfully completing her bachelor’s degree in 2019, China started the master’s program “Photographic Studies” at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund in spring 2020. As a Black photographer in Germany, China Hopson filters her photographs through her heritage. She explores identity and sociopolitical issues to highlight injustices and the effects of racism. Her work MATTER IS THE MINIMUM portrays activists of the Black Lives Matter movement in Germany. Her work HEARTBEAT OF A MANGO TREE was 2019 Fujifilm X Spotlight. The photographic essay explores the fate of reggae veterans and Rastafarians in Jamaica. China Hopson and Kathrin Aldenhoff were nominated for the GRIMME ONLINE AWARD with their multimedia reportage DRAUSSEN – 24H MIT EINEM OBDACHLOSEN. In addition to her own projects, China Hopson photographs for various magazines and newspapers. Her work has been published in STERN, Vogue Germany, 11Freunde, Rosa Luxemburg Magazine, Eltern Family, Weser-Kurier, Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung, among others. China currently lives and works as a freelance photographer between Hanover, Dortmund and Stuttgart (and the southern US).

Esther M. Siddiquie is a Bochum-based artist working from a choreographic practice. Her research explores the potential of corporeal encounters with archival materials as means of knowledge production and develops a decolonial practice of inventory. Critical border studies is another focus of her work. In 2022 she is a fellow of Tanzrecherche NRW. She is a graduate of the London Contemporary Dance School and NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Siddiquie works as an Artistic Associate at the School of Dance at the University of the Arts Philadelphia where she curates. Her work has been shown at atelier automatique, kitev – LEERSTAND, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Tanzhaus NRW, Dance Umbrella Festival, New Lab, The Place, and Sadler’s Wells, among others. She is a PhD candidate at Goldsmith University in Advanced Practices.

Fatima Khan, born in 1987 in Bhola, is a writer, artist, curator and facilitator. She studied Ancient Languages and Cultures – Classical Literature and German Studies at the University of Cologne. She was the initiator and co-founder of q[lit]*clgn, the first feminist literature festival in Germany. In winter, she will begin her postgraduate diploma studies in Media Arts / Literary Writing at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.

Lennart Miketta is a director who works in and combines documentary film and multimedia installations. He was artistic director for The Art of Skate at Dortmunder U – Center for Art and Creativity, as part of the European funded project smARTplaces. His work also found its way to Schauspielhaus Bochum, where he realized the documentary 360° part of the play Last Minutes before Mars by Darren O’ Donnell and the filmic realization for Illuminators Nihau by Sara Hasenbrink. As part of his work at storyLab kiU, he realized several documentary formats such as Durch die Ausstellung with Norbert Dickel for The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains or Rainer Fetting: The easy Way not the German Way for the exhibition Rainer Fetting. He has also done film work for HMKV Hartware MedienKunstVerein, B.EEF, Jimboo and Ceñtral Düsseldorf, SOLO Skateboardmagazine, UZWEI, YOUNG DOGS, Museum Ostwall and free documentary projects like Mandarins will hurt your Stomach. Lennart holds a diploma from WAM – Die Medienakademie and a BA in Film & Sound from FH-Dortmund.