Nominations and Awards:
2021 Merit Award for "Irene and Günter part II", Third annual SAC’s Gallery & Stonehenge Gallery photo exhibit in Montgomery, Alabama, US
2021 16th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, 2nd place (Open Theme single), 3rd place (people single), Hon. Mention (2 x series)
2021 Focus on the Story Portrait Awards, first runner-up (Irene and Günter part II) and finalist, Washington D.C., US
2021 Winner Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Awards, US
2021 Portrait of Humanity/BJP 1854 Award Winner (single, Lilly and Waltraud part II); UK
2021 Exposure Photography Festival International Open Call selected, CA
2021 Tokyo International Foto Awards, Gold in People/Portrait, Japan
2020 Silver, Bronze, Honorable Mention: BIFA, Budapest International Foto Awards, Hungary
2020 Jury Top 5 selected by Stephen Perloff, IPA International Photography Awards, US
2020 Director’s Choice Award: Int. Open Call: "Narratives", Praxis Gallery & Photographic Arts Center, Minneapolis, US
2020 Winner 3rd Place (amateur): Deeper Perspective/Deeper Perspective, Honorable Ment. (2x), IPA Int. Photography Awards
2020 Crowd-Vote-Winner, Oxford Photo Festival International Open Call, UK
2020 Top 50 Photographer (Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man), Critical Mass (Photolucida), US
2020 Silver & Bronze Winner (2x), Honorable Mention Prix de la Photographie Paris (Px3), France
2020 Winner (single, Irene and Günter part II)) Portrait of Humanity BJP/ 1854, UK
2020 Shortlist Wellcome Photography Prize, UK
2020 Finalist All About Photo Awards - The Mind’s Eye, US
2020 Honorable Mention Moscow International Photo Awards: Editorial-Photo Essay, Russia
2020 Semi-finalist Head On Portrait Award, Australia
2020 Nominee Fine Art Photography Awards: People (Amateur), US
2020 Finalist Portraits - Hellerau Photography Award, Germany
2019 "Remarkable Artwork" (storyboard) Siena International Photo Awards, Italy
2019 Shortlist Out from the Mist/Photographic Representations of Mental Health, Australia
2019 Nominee Felix Schoeller Photo Award: (Best Work by an Emerging Photographer Category), Germany
2019 Finalist Hahnemühle’s International Student Photo Competition, Germany
2019 Bronze Moscow International Photo Awards: Editorial-Photo Essay, Russia
2019 Finalist Portraits - Hellerau Photography Award, Germany
2018 Silver Winner (Portfolio-Personal), Tokyo International Foto Awards, Japan
2018 Finalist VGH-Fotopreis, Hannover, Germany
2018 Finalist: Student Award of the Festival of Ethical Photography (World Report Award), Italy
2018 Honorable Mentions: IPA International Photography Awards (Deeper Perspective) & Tokyo Int. Foto Awards (Essay)
2018 Honorable Mention: Monovisions Photography Awards, USA
2018 Finalist Portraits - Hellerau Photography Award, Germany
Group-Exhibitions:
2023 Chelsea International Photography Competition, Agora Gallery, New York
2022 Trieste Photo Days "Wow: Worlds of Women", Italy
2022 Decode Gallery, "Storyteller-Exhibition", Tucson, Arizona, US
2022 Royal Photographic Societies’ International Photography Exhibition 163rd edition, UK
2021 Photo Oxford Festival, Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man, Online Exhibition, UK
2021 Third annual SAC’s Gallery & Stonehenge Gallery photo exhibit in Montgomery, Alabama, US
2021 the International Art Center Troy University campus, Alabama, US
2021 Indian Photo Festival, Hyderabad, India
2021 The Budapest Diary Art Gallery What’s The Story? - Authenticity and Intimacy, Barcelona, Spain
2021 Belfast Photo Festival, Ireland
2021 Photo 2021, Melbourne, Australia
2021 Exposure Photography Festival, Int. Open Call, Contemporary Calgary, Alberta, Ca
2021 SE Center Open, SE Center For Photography, South Carolina, US
2020 The Human Portrait Online Exhibition, Dallas Center for Photography, Texas, US
2020 Photo Place Gallery, Finding The Light, Middlebury, Vermont, US
2020 Don’t Take Pictures: A Show of Hands, Int. Juried online exhibition
2020 Praxis Gallery & Photographic Arts Center, Narratives, Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
2020 Indian Photo Festival, Venue - State Art Gallery, Hyderabad, India
2020 Oxford Photo Festival, Ovada Gallery, UK
2020 Capa Contemporary Photography Center, Budapest, Hungary
2020 Technisches Museum Dresden, Germany
2019/20 Museumsquartier Osnabrück, Germany
2019 ABC Building Brisbane, Australia
2019 Pumpenhaus Dresden, Germany
2019 GAF Galerie für Fotografie, Hanover, Germany
2018 Festspielhaus Hellerau/Dresden, Germany
2014 Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany
Articles/Features:
European Journal of Life Writing, University of Groningen Press, 2022: Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man, https://doi.org/10.21827/ejlw.11.38399
FotoNostrum Magazine, issue October 2021, Barcelona, Spain, 126-140.
Artdoc Online Magazine, Exhibition Documentary Stories, September 2021 documentary-stories
@guardian feature 19th May 2021, portrait-of-humanity-1854-media-in-pictures
feature shoot, Mai 2021, love-and-desire-among-elder-couples
Slate, France, 02/2021, All This Love http://www.slate.fr/grand-format/intimite-couples-personnes-agees-197930
British Journal of Photography, Anouncing the Winners of Portrait of Humanity 2021
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Monthly Photography South Korea 01/2021, All This Love, p.156f.
The Simple Press, In Conversation With: Mirja Maria Thiel, 2020
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British Journal of Photography, Anouncing the Winners of Portrait of Humanity 2020
announcing-the-winners-of-portrait-of-humanity-2020
faz/net/aktuell/wissen: Wellcome Photography Prize: Leid in starken Bildern von Sonja Kastilan https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wissen/leben-gene/wellcome-photography-prize-16903138.html
@guardian feature from shortlist @wellcomephotoprize 2020
Lensculture Portrait Awards 2020 Competition Gallery
@guardian feature from shortlist @portrait_of_humanity 2020
Lenscratch Fine Art Photography Daily: The 2020 Self-Quarantining Exhibition
feature shoot - weekly newsletter/reader submissions spotlight and @featureshoot (February 2020)
©donttakepictures: Photo of the Day, 13th January 2020
Lenscratch Fine Art Photography Daily: The Your Favorite Photograph of 2019 Exhibition
Fine Art Printer e-magazine 01/2020: Special: Finalists Hahnemühle Student Photo Competition
Lenscratch Fine Art Photography Daily: The 2019 Family Exhibition
PH Museum, February/April 2019 (Educational program)
Published:
Annual Report Petits Frères des Pauvres (NGO), 2022
GEO Wissen, 02/2022
Portrait of Humanity, Vol 3. London: Hoxton Mini Press, 2021
Portrait of Humanity, Vol 2. London: Hoxton Mini Press, 2020
AAP Magazine "Special Edition All About Photo Awards 2020"
Portraits Catalogue - Hellerau Photography Award 2020
Portraits Catalogue - Hellerau Photography Award 2019
PhotoNews, Portfolio, 02/2019
Portraits Catalogue - Hellerau Photography Award 2018
Weserkurier Bremen, photo-reportages, 2017/18
Talks:
2019 Talk at World Press Photo Exhibition 2018, Oldenburg, Germany
Grants:
2021 "Open development project" (BG II: photography/illustration/design), Stiftung Kulturwerk (VG Bildkunst), Germany