artist in residence
2025
La Belle au bois Normand
Henrike Stahl deploys a rich and abundant photographic universe. She has taken hold of the myth of the princess, anchoring it in contemporary reality. Living at times in the outbuilding of an old castle in Normandy, she became interested in today's lords and ladies of the manor, searching for their modern faces.
Today, castle owners are no longer exclusively from the aristocracy: they are often self-made entrepreneurs, contemporary builders of a living heritage. Echoing this reality, Henrike Stahl sets out to demystify castle life and deconstruct idealised representations of the princess figure — often passive, frozen, dependent on a narrative that is not her own.
German photographer Henrike Stahl was born in Gießen in 1980 and lives and works between France and Germany. Self-taught, she blends photography, painting and graphic design in a unique language. Her work explores marginalised territories and identities in transition, seeking to build bridges between worlds separated by prejudice. Through her images, she addresses the fragility and beauty of peripheral realities. She has exhibited at the InCadaqués Festival, Circulation(s) (Paris), the Portrait(s) Festival (Vichy), and the Picto Prize for Fashion Photography at the Musée Galliera (Paris), among others.