In the PATCHWORK IDENTITY project (2018-2021 | 2025), Beate C. Koehler focused on portrait photography. She explored the facets of human identity. By merging numerous levels, she expressed her view of the multi-layered nature and complexity of the person portrayed, allowing viewers to share in her encounters with people and her subjective view of the subjects.
THE THEATRICAL DOZEN | 2019 Everyone knows them, the facets of our own identity that we do not live out, that we give room to in our imagination and that we sometimes bring to life in a few daring moments. Then we slip for a moment into a role and enter the stage of possibilities, giving a part of our personality space to express itself and to manifest itself in the theatrical or even everyday environment. In the series THE THEATRICAL DOZEN Beate C. Koehler trace these undreamt-of possibilities to develop our personality, stage, attribute and create one of many conceivable identities.
Beate C. Koehler | 2019 | THE THEATRICAL DOZEN #1 | 75 x 150 x 4 cm multi-layered photo collage on photo canvas textile
THE SIMULTANEITY OF THE NON-SIMULTANEOUS | 2019 Some of Beate C. Koehler portraits from the PATCHWORK IDENTIY project are inspired by the Netflix series DARK. Fascinated by the idea of being able to travel in time and choose where to stay, she question the limits of the real with THE SIMULTANEITY OF THE NON-SIMULTANEOUS. The idea that other worlds exist in parallel to our reality, that our perceived chronology of time is not only changeable and flexible but perhaps even shapeable, has an impact on our identity. How does one identity change in different cultural contexts? How does one identity become manifest at different times? Does this multiply the already complex identity into infinity or does the simultaneity of the non-simultaneous rather explain it?
Beate C. Koehler | 2019 | THE SIMULTANEITY OF THE NON-SIMULTANEOUS | Left: Avignon | 135 x 180 cm multi-layered photo collage printed as a poster | Right: Moscow | 180 x 135 cm multi-layered photo collage printed as a poster | Exhibited 2025 @Haus Hünenburg/Kunstverein Achim | Achim/GER
COLLECTIVE IDENTITY | 2019 The portraits of the series COLLECTIVE IDENTITY were created by fusing three portraits of women and three portraits of men (all members of one team), overlaid by further photo layers. The pictures are the result of an examination of the question of what influence groups and social structures have on the formation of identity. For example: What is the role of colleagues in a team? Which dimensions of personality come into play here? What does someone reveal about themselves, and what do they keep private? Do we align our "professional identity" with each other, do they match? Are there mergers of identity as a result? Is our identity even "damaged", because we do not want to present important aspects of our personality in everyday professional life? And how much individuality then remains with the individual? Beate C. Koehler | 2019 | DAMAGED II.3/4 | 2019 | 60 x 80 cm multi-layered photo collage printed as a poster | Exhibited 2025 @Haus Hünenburg/Kunstverein Achim | Achim/GER NEW INDIVIDUAL PORTRAITS | 2025 In 2025, Beate C. Koehler was deeply moved by two photo shoots, by the people she portrayed and by meeting them and learning about their life stories. This prompted her to once again create portraits in which she merged what she saw, heard and assumed into a single image. Due to her development over recent years, the working process was even more intuitive, imaginative and experimental than in the past.
Beate C. Koehler | 2025 | ENSA | 30 x 20 x 6 cm multi-layered photoprint transferred to a wooden box
