Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah
born 1990 in Bonn, Germany.
In a process- and iteration-oriented practice, deeply embedded in technical frameworks, Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah seeks moments where the hidden qualities of the medium reveal themselves. These qualities emerge in the dynamic interplay between control and surrender. She refers to this as the "negative space"—a necessary, inevitable moment where expansion, experience, and the Other converge. This concept is fundamental to her artistic approach and closely intertwined with her understanding of eros.
Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah has recently had solo exhibitions at Zollamt MMK, Frankfurt am Main; Centre de la Photographie Genève; and the Photoforum Pasquart, Biel, among others. Her work has also been included in group exhibitions at Foam Museum, Amsterdam; Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich; Kunsthalle Trier, and Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn. In 2024, the artist was awarded the Swiss Art Award.
Gallery exhibitions
Institutional exhibitions
Press
- Lukas Flygare: Maneuvers in the Dark, February 2025
- Graham Hamilton: Review of "Corner Dry Lungs" at Zollamt MMK, January 2025 (Flash Art)
- Silke Hohmann: Eine Künstlerin, die uns aufgefallen ist, November 2024 (Monopol)
- Lukas Flygare & Susanne Pfeffer: In conversation with Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah, September 2024
Vita
Lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland Born 1990 in Bonn, Germany
Selected Solo & Duo Exhibitions
2025 Hypoxia, Jan Kaps, Cologne
2024 Corner Dry Lungs, Zollamt MMK, Frankfurt am Main The House Is A Body, Georgian House Museum for Bristol Photo Festival, Bristol
2022 Behold The Ocean, Centre Photographie, Geneva May I Dream?, Photoforum Pasquart, Biel
2019 FRISCH, with Eliane Zinner, visarte kabinett, Zurich [Duo]
2015 révélee, K4 galerie, Saarbrücken
2014 Early Birds 6, Enovos, Saarbrücken [Duo]
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Love, Maybe, Alexander Tutsek Foundation, Munich
2024 Swiss Art Awards, Messe Art Basel, Basel Missing Mirror, Foam Museum, Amsterdam Making Light of Every Thing, Centre de la Photographie Genève, Geneva weg, Helmhaus, Zürich
2023 Alternative Mobility, Gia Lam Train Factory, Hanoi Art Vontobel - New Acquisitions, Vontobel, Zurich Werkschau Kanton Zürich, Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich Kunststipendium der Stadt Zürich 2023, Helmhaus, Zurich FOTODOKS - future perfect, Lothringer 13 Halle, Munich Beyond Photography, Vontobel, Zurich IDENTITIES - Portraying the Intangible, Kunsthalle Trier, Trier
2022 Black Helvetia, TPR, Le Locle work in progress 2.0, OnCurating, Zurich SuperRare Collection Preview, SuperRare Gallery, New York ZORATOPIA, Knockdown Center, New York Louis Roederer Photography Prize for Sustainability, The White Box at Nobu Hotel, London Poem = Work of Art, Digital Francisco Carolinum and TheVerseVerse Art Dubai, Madinat Jumeirah Centre, Dubai
2021 Prix d’Art Robert Schuman, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Saarbrücken Cyberbaat Genesis, 1mA gallery and Foundation, Dakar STILL, Road Gallery, Miami & Los Angeles Prix Photoforum 2020, Photoforum Pasquart, Biel
2019 Fotonacht, Schwarzenburgstrasse 35, Bern
2016 Exposition photographique transfrontalière, Espace d’Art Adagio, Thionville
2014 Love in a Cold World, Cusanushaus, Saarbruecken Aus der Reihe - 5. Marta-Hoepffner-Preis, Stadtmuseum Hofheim am Taunus, Hofheim
2013 Peter and Luise Hager Award for Interdisziplinary Aesthetics, HBK Galerie, Saarbrücken