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Michael Kohls

@michael_kohls

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Portrait & Documentary Photographer
Mostly in Hamburg, sometimes Berlin
Network member @dagesh_juedische_kunst
Former member @artists.unlimited

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Already a year ago.

Installation views of the collaborative presentation of the works "Forms of Representation" and "House of Assembly" by @paula_markert and @michael_kohls at @mkgfreiraum, May 2022.

In this collaborative project, the photographers address questions about the visibility and invisibility of Jewish life in Hamburg. In a video work, Michael Kohls deals with the complexity of Jewish life in Hamburg based on his own Jewish identity. In this first part of an ongoing, research-based photo project, Paula Markert illuminates the significance of religion for political discourse. In the joint presentation in the open space, perspectives are to be changed and thus questions are also to be raised about the direction of view on the equally personal and political topic of religious identity.

The event series was sponsored by #2021JLID - Jüdisches Leben in Deutschland e.V. with funds from the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Construction and Home Affairs.

Work details:

House of Assembly (images 01-03)
Three-channel video installation, FullHD, Stereo, 10.13 minutes
Michael Kohls, 2022

Forms of Representation (images 04-07)
Showcase with reproductions, FineArt Inkjet Print framed, Slideshow
Paula Markert, 2022

Many thanks to the Jewish Reform and liberal Communities Hamburg, the Klezmerlech dance group as well as @_petersonundfindus, @eh_aber_trotzdem & @tilmanwalther from @mkgfreiraum. taken in Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg by @michael_kohls

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3 years ago

Fern leaf, as a symbol of the Jewish diaspora. Hamburg, 2025.

Inspired by the Garden of the Diaspora at the Jewish Museum Berlin.

#jewishdiaspora #jewishlife #israel #germany by @michael_kohls

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11 days ago

⁨Shana Tova / שנה טובה

Twin Pomegranates, Italy 2026.

#roshhashana #pomegranates taken in Italy by @michael_kohls

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a month ago

PREIS // PROFESSIONAL
“Etrogim“ von @michael_kohls

In seiner Fotoserie geht Michael Kohls der Frage nach, was Zuhause für Jüd:innen in Deutschland heute bedeutet. Jüdische Lebensrealitäten sind vielfaltig und von Migration, Familiengeschichten und gemeinsamen wie unterschiedlichen kulturellen Prägungen durchzogen. Viele Jüd:innen leben zwischen Sprachen, religiösen Traditionen oder säkularen Lebensentwürfen. Ihre Erfahrungen sind häufig generationsübergreifend geprägt von der Shoa und dem Versuch, sich in einem gesellschaftlichen Umfeld zu verorten, das Jüd:innen oft stereotypisiert und historisiert. In Porträts, Stillleben und räumlichen Aufnahmen sucht Kohls nach Spuren eines Zuhauses, das nicht unbedingt an einen Ort gebunden ist, sondern sich vor allem in Beziehungen, Erinnerungen und kulturellen Bedeutungen zeigt.

Die Arbeiten könnt ihr Euch auf unserer Webseite anschauen: award.vonovia.de

„Michael Kohls’ Fotoserie macht neugierig und berührt zugleich. Leichtfüßig und poetisch fügen sich die Fotografien zu Mosaikstücken einer jüdischen Identität, die im gelebten Alltag verankert ist und nicht politisch-ideologisch argumentiert. Besonders überzeugt, wie sich beim Betrachten eine Erkenntnis entfaltet: wie wenig wir über gegenwärtiges jüdisches Leben wissen und wie selten es im Alltag sichtbar ist. Die Serie wird zu einer Einladung, genauer hinzuschauen, einzutauchen und kennenzulernen.“ – Statement der Jury zur Preisvergabe

Ab dem 2. Mai 2026 sind die sechs Fotoserien aus der Meisterklasse des VONOVIA AWARD FÜR FOTOGRAFIE No. 8 in Essen zu sehen.

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Fotos: Michael Kohls, Etrogim, 2025/26, Vonovia Award für Fotografie No. 8 © Michael Kohls

#vaff8 #VonoviaAwardFürFotografie #Fotografie #ZeitgenössischeFotografie #Meisterklasse #Professional Eine junge Frau sitzt an einem Tisch mit einer Menora by @michael_kohls

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7 months ago

Now it‘s written down on paper. I’m delighted to have received the @vonovia_award for Photography in the Professional category with my work „Etrogim“

Jewish identities in Germany are diverse, shaped by migration, family histories, and different cultural influences. Many Jews today live between languages, countries, religious traditions, and secular lifestyles. Their experiences are often shaped across generations by the Shoah and by the attempt to find their place in a social environment
that still stereotypes and historicizes Jews. For Jews in Germany, home often becomes a microcosm that is experienced more in institutional or private spaces—less publicly. In portraits, still lifes, and spatial photographs, I search in my work for traces of a home that is not necessarily tied to a place, but manifests itself above all in relationships, memories, and cultural meanings.

Special thanks to @paula_markert for her mentoring & guidance and to @_laila_tov @sinelnikovaalex @wwwlada.de @mariya.brnsky @barin.anna @maria.elisa.png @dor.aloni @moldanya for your trust & patience.

Many thanks also to the two juries @celina.lunsford @ninaroeder Anna Gripp @silkefrigge @martinbrockhoff Daniel Riedl Reinhard Spieler & @ingotaubhorn taken in Berlin, Germany by @michael_kohls

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7 months ago

Yesterday evening, the @altonaer_museum opened the project space “Milestones of Jewish History,” which showcases over 400 years of Jewish history in Hamburg and highlights its cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity. One of the reasons for the project space is the discussion that has been going on since 2024 about a separate Jewish Museum for Hamburg.

I was able to contribute to the project space with photographs of the lion sculpture and notable gravestones from the Altona Jewish Cemetery. Many thanks to Anne Kunhardt and the curatorial team at the Altona Museum.

#kosher taken in Altonaer Museum by @michael_kohls

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8 months ago

Eight Chanukiot on the eighth day & candle of Chanukkah, Hamburg 2025.

#chanukkah #hanukkah taken in Hamburg, Germany by @michael_kohls

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10 months ago

Vanessa (& Avi), Hamburg 2021. taken in Hamburg by @michael_kohls

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a year ago

On October 7th in 2023, Eli Sharabi was kidnapped from Kibbuz Be’eri in Israel by the Palestinian Islamist terror organization Hamas into Gaza Strip and held hostage for 491 days. It was only after his release that he learned that his wife and two daughters had been murdered by Hamas.

Photographed for @spiegelmagazin
Picture desk by @jasmin.gritzka & @danielhofmannphoto
Interview by Juliane von Mittelstaedt, Dominik Peters & @thorezurwelt

#elisharabi #israel taken in DER SPIEGEL by @michael_kohls

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a year ago

The Sky over the Mediterranean seen from Jaffo / Israel.

#Israel #mediterranean #sky #clouds taken in Jaffa - יפו - يافا by @michael_kohls

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a year ago

Caro Laila before her Wedding. Photographed in June 2025 in Hamburg.

Veil by @juliamaiquez_esterlich taken in Hamburg, Germany by @michael_kohls

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a year ago

Rafaela, photographed March 2025 in Jaffa.

#israel #jaffa taken in Jaffa - יפו - يافا by @michael_kohls

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a year ago