In the Stephanie Steinkopf's pictures the camera is almost invisible. The people she photographs seem to feel completely unobserved. Such an intimate look is only possible, if there is a large familiarity. Stephanie Steinkopf takes her time when she works, getting close to the people. She does not only get to know them, she shares their lives. For her long-term project "Manhattan", she spent years in the microcosm of a housing estate on the Oder. For "Vogelfrei", her new project about homeless women, she slept on the streets with her protagonists, even in winter. That way, she can photograph a subject from an inside perspective. She thus also questions our often volatile and biased views on people, especially those on the edge of society.
There is also room for humorous details in her photos, like the sledgehammer in the hands of the betrayed woman, the smuggled carton of cigarettes under the arm of the smoking customs official. Above all, however, Stephanie Steinkopf's images have a unique depth. They negotiate the relationship between poverty, exclusion and social justice.

Stephanie Steinkopf was born in 1978 in Frankfurt / Oder. After a master's degree in ethnomusicology, Modern History and Latin American Studies, she studied photography at the OSTKREUZ SCHOOL in Berlin. She has received several awards, among them the first place in the Vattenfall Photo Prize 2012 and the European Photo Exhibition Award in 2013. Her work has been shown in exhibitions across Europe as well as in Mexico and the United States.
Stephanie Steinkopf lives and works in Berlin.