Arne Piepke
Photo-Essays:
Arne Piepke (*1991) grew up in a small village in western Germany surrounded by forests. Rural life, traditions, and growing up in a working-class environment continue to shape him and his work to this day. These influences are reflected in his photographic engagement with themes such as history, collective identity, and tradition. Motivated by his own search for belonging, he constantly deals with these fundamental questions.
In 2019, he completed his B.A. in Photography at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund, followed by an M.A. in Photographic Studies in 2024. He is a co-founder of DOCKS, a collective of five documentary photographers founded in Dortmund in 2018.
Arne‘s photographic work is rooted in documentary practice but has evolved into a more open, speculative approach. He questions the authenticity of documentary images and shifts the focus from the depiction of facts to the conveying of uncertainty, contradiction, and ambiguity.
He is winner of the LUCIE Foundation Fine Art Scholarschip, the World Report Award and the third prize of Revela‘t Photo Festival. In 2025 he was a selectee of Copenhagen Photo Festival.
Arne regularly works for publications such as Der Spiegel, the Financial Times, and Die Zeit. His work has also been published in The Washington Post and The New York Times Magazine.
Based in Dortmund/GER and available for assignments.
Prints on request.
selected publications/clients: The New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, Financial Times, Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, TIME, ZEIT Magazin, Die ZEIT, ZEIT online, Bloomberg Businessweek, GEO, GEO Wissen, Le Monde, Stern, Capital, Society, The Guardian, Der SPIEGEL, Wirtschaftswoche, Territory, FOCUS, TAZ, l’Espresso, Dagbladet Information, Tortoise Media, FAZ Woche, NZZ, Tagesspiegel, 11Freunde, JWD, Bundesfreiwilligendienst, Areal Böhler, Emschergenossenschaft
selected awards/mentions:
2025
︎Copenhagen Photo Festival Selectee
2024
︎Third Prize, Revela’t Festival
︎ Rencontres de la Photographie de Marrakech
2023
︎Winner Lucie Scholarship, fine art, professional
︎Gomma Grant Shortlist
︎shortlist, Nikon Fotobus Grant
2022
︎ World Report Award Shortlist, Short Story
2021
︎Nominee Felix Shoeller Photo Award - Newcomer
︎Finalist W. Eugene Smith Student Grant
︎Odesa Photo Days
︎Influences festival
2020
︎Winner The Photo Annual Student Award
︎Finalist Prix 6Mois du photojournalism
︎FUTURES Talent 2020
︎Finalist Kaunas Photo Star Award
︎Finalist New Visions - Cortona on the Move
︎Shortlist Portrait of Humanity
︎Winner of PDNedu Student Contest
︎follow up - project funding recipient
2019
︎Visa Pour l’Image Screening
︎Winner of Student World Report Award︎New York Portfolio Review
︎shortlisted for LUCIE Foundation scholarship
︎Athen Photo Festival Photobook Show
2018
︎Finalist of W. Eugene Smith Student Grant︎Winner of PDN Emerging Photographer
︎Winner of PDNedu Student Contest
2017
︎Nominee Photogrvphy Grant
︎shortlisted for Felix Schoeller Award
︎shortlisted for LUCIE Foundation scholarship
︎Nominee for Kolga Newcomer Award
Exhibitions/Screenings:
2026
︎ Freelens Galery, Hamburg, “Gesichter & Räume”
2025
︎ Copenhagen Photo Festival
2024︎ “Von Tag zu Tag”, Superraum Dortmund
︎ laif Pop-up Festival, JUPITER, Hamburg
︎ Revela’t Festival for contemporary analog Photography
︎”Die Konsequenz” - DOCKS Collective, Superraum Dortmund
2023
︎Photaumnales - “Terrains de Jeux”, France
︎Fotoforum Dresden, Germany
︎ Rencontres d'Arles - at MRO Foundation - DOCKS Collective “A Year Along the Banks”, Arles, France
︎ONN! Room Braunschweig, - “Anecdotes from an unfamiliar Land”, Germany
2022︎ Pixelprojekt Ruhrgebiet, Wissenschaftspark, Gelsenkirchen, - “The Last Mine Rescue”, Germany
︎ PH Museum Days, Collective Exhibition, Bologna, Italy
︎Winners & Nominees - Felix Schoeller Award, Kulturgeschichtliches Museum Osnabrück
& Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin - “Anecdotes from an unfamiliar Land”
2021
︎”Glaube, Sitte, Heimat”, solo exhibitions, Photaumnales
16 place Aristide Briand, Noyon
06.10.2021 - 24.12.2021
︎The longest Night -Wissenschaftspark, Gelsenkirchen, FYC - fotografische Positionen zur Pandemie
︎The Longest Night
“Besondere Zeiten” Dortmund, Brückstr. 64,
30.03. - 20.05.2021
︎Influences Festival - Beaucouzé, France
2020
︎Portrait of Humanity - in Space
︎Kaunas Photo Fesitval
2019
︎Visa Pour l’Image Screening, Perpignan, France
︎Festival della Fotografia Etica, Lodi, Italy
︎DOCKS encounters, Dortmund
Teaching:
︎Block seminar at HSD (Hochschule Düsseldorf), February 2026
︎Workshop (University of Applied Sciences and Arts), Nov.-Dec.2025
︎Workshop&Mentoring; MON Visual Storytelling & Environmental Memory
︎Block seminar at HSD (Hochschule Düsseldorf), 2025
︎Mongolian State University of Arts and Culture, one week workshop, 2019
Interviews/Talks:
Copenhagen Photo Festival
ZEIT Magazin
WDR
Kultur.West
FUTURES
Urbanautica
on Film lab
fotoroom
Loupe Magazine
Aint-Bad
Huck Magazine
Talks:
︎OKS, Berlin - Fotografie Abschluss, und jetzt?
︎ONN! Gallery Braunschweig,artist talk
︎World Press Photo Oldenburg, artist talk
︎“Ruhrgebiet:Notizen” Oberhausen and Hamm, panel discussion
︎Superraum Dortmund, panel discussion
︎Panel Talk on the importance of collectives at Lumix Photofestival Hannover.
selfpublished: Anecdotes from an unfamiliar Land, 2022
Ruhrgebiet:Notizen, DOCKS, 2021
Newspaper II, DOCKS, 2020
Ulaanbaatar Magazine, DOCKS, 2020
#1 #2 #3 #4, fold-out posters, DOCKS, 2019
Glaube, Sitte, Heimat, Book, 2019
DOCKS’ 18, Newspaper, DOCKS, 2018
In 2019, he completed his B.A. in Photography at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund, followed by an M.A. in Photographic Studies in 2024. He is a co-founder of DOCKS, a collective of five documentary photographers founded in Dortmund in 2018.
Arne‘s photographic work is rooted in documentary practice but has evolved into a more open, speculative approach. He questions the authenticity of documentary images and shifts the focus from the depiction of facts to the conveying of uncertainty, contradiction, and ambiguity.
He is winner of the LUCIE Foundation Fine Art Scholarschip, the World Report Award and the third prize of Revela‘t Photo Festival. In 2025 he was a selectee of Copenhagen Photo Festival.
Arne regularly works for publications such as Der Spiegel, the Financial Times, and Die Zeit. His work has also been published in The Washington Post and The New York Times Magazine.
Based in Dortmund/GER and available for assignments.
Prints on request.
selected publications/clients: The New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, Financial Times, Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, TIME, ZEIT Magazin, Die ZEIT, ZEIT online, Bloomberg Businessweek, GEO, GEO Wissen, Le Monde, Stern, Capital, Society, The Guardian, Der SPIEGEL, Wirtschaftswoche, Territory, FOCUS, TAZ, l’Espresso, Dagbladet Information, Tortoise Media, FAZ Woche, NZZ, Tagesspiegel, 11Freunde, JWD, Bundesfreiwilligendienst, Areal Böhler, Emschergenossenschaft
selected awards/mentions:
2025
︎Copenhagen Photo Festival Selectee
2024
︎Third Prize, Revela’t Festival
︎ Rencontres de la Photographie de Marrakech
2023
︎Winner Lucie Scholarship, fine art, professional
︎Gomma Grant Shortlist
︎shortlist, Nikon Fotobus Grant
2022
︎ World Report Award Shortlist, Short Story
2021
︎Nominee Felix Shoeller Photo Award - Newcomer
︎Finalist W. Eugene Smith Student Grant
︎Odesa Photo Days
︎Influences festival
2020
︎Winner The Photo Annual Student Award
︎Finalist Prix 6Mois du photojournalism
︎FUTURES Talent 2020
︎Finalist Kaunas Photo Star Award
︎Finalist New Visions - Cortona on the Move
︎Shortlist Portrait of Humanity
︎Winner of PDNedu Student Contest
︎follow up - project funding recipient
2019
︎Visa Pour l’Image Screening
︎Winner of Student World Report Award︎New York Portfolio Review
︎shortlisted for LUCIE Foundation scholarship
︎Athen Photo Festival Photobook Show
2018
︎Finalist of W. Eugene Smith Student Grant︎Winner of PDN Emerging Photographer
︎Winner of PDNedu Student Contest
2017
︎Nominee Photogrvphy Grant
︎shortlisted for Felix Schoeller Award
︎shortlisted for LUCIE Foundation scholarship
︎Nominee for Kolga Newcomer Award
Exhibitions/Screenings:
2026
︎ Freelens Galery, Hamburg, “Gesichter & Räume”
2025
︎ Copenhagen Photo Festival
2024︎ “Von Tag zu Tag”, Superraum Dortmund
︎ laif Pop-up Festival, JUPITER, Hamburg
︎ Revela’t Festival for contemporary analog Photography
︎”Die Konsequenz” - DOCKS Collective, Superraum Dortmund
2023
︎Photaumnales - “Terrains de Jeux”, France
︎Fotoforum Dresden, Germany
︎ Rencontres d'Arles - at MRO Foundation - DOCKS Collective “A Year Along the Banks”, Arles, France
︎ONN! Room Braunschweig, - “Anecdotes from an unfamiliar Land”, Germany
2022︎ Pixelprojekt Ruhrgebiet, Wissenschaftspark, Gelsenkirchen, - “The Last Mine Rescue”, Germany
︎ PH Museum Days, Collective Exhibition, Bologna, Italy
︎Winners & Nominees - Felix Schoeller Award, Kulturgeschichtliches Museum Osnabrück
& Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin - “Anecdotes from an unfamiliar Land”
2021
︎”Glaube, Sitte, Heimat”, solo exhibitions, Photaumnales
16 place Aristide Briand, Noyon
06.10.2021 - 24.12.2021
︎The longest Night -Wissenschaftspark, Gelsenkirchen, FYC - fotografische Positionen zur Pandemie
︎The Longest Night
“Besondere Zeiten” Dortmund, Brückstr. 64,
30.03. - 20.05.2021
︎Influences Festival - Beaucouzé, France
2020
︎Portrait of Humanity - in Space
︎Kaunas Photo Fesitval
2019
︎Visa Pour l’Image Screening, Perpignan, France
︎Festival della Fotografia Etica, Lodi, Italy
︎DOCKS encounters, Dortmund
Teaching:
︎Block seminar at HSD (Hochschule Düsseldorf), February 2026
︎Workshop (University of Applied Sciences and Arts), Nov.-Dec.2025
︎Workshop&Mentoring; MON Visual Storytelling & Environmental Memory
︎Block seminar at HSD (Hochschule Düsseldorf), 2025
︎Mongolian State University of Arts and Culture, one week workshop, 2019
Interviews/Talks:
Copenhagen Photo Festival
ZEIT Magazin
WDR
Kultur.West
FUTURES
Urbanautica
on Film lab
fotoroom
Loupe Magazine
Aint-Bad
Huck Magazine
Talks:
︎OKS, Berlin - Fotografie Abschluss, und jetzt?
︎ONN! Gallery Braunschweig,artist talk
︎World Press Photo Oldenburg, artist talk
︎“Ruhrgebiet:Notizen” Oberhausen and Hamm, panel discussion
︎Superraum Dortmund, panel discussion
︎Panel Talk on the importance of collectives at Lumix Photofestival Hannover.
selfpublished: Anecdotes from an unfamiliar Land, 2022
Ruhrgebiet:Notizen, DOCKS, 2021
Newspaper II, DOCKS, 2020
Ulaanbaatar Magazine, DOCKS, 2020
#1 #2 #3 #4, fold-out posters, DOCKS, 2019
Glaube, Sitte, Heimat, Book, 2019
DOCKS’ 18, Newspaper, DOCKS, 2018
Contact:
Arne Piepke
based in Dortmund/NRW/GER
+49 170 4848 723
mail@arnepiepke.de
︎
represented by laif
member of FUTURES, Fotobus, freelens
Follow the newsletter on Substack.
Arne Piepke
based in Dortmund/NRW/GER
+49 170 4848 723
mail@arnepiepke.de
︎
represented by laif
member of FUTURES, Fotobus, freelens
Follow the newsletter on Substack.