Alicja Khatchikian is a Berlin-based artist and researcher whose work unfolds at the intersection of documentary, fine art, and ethnographic approaches. Through images, text, collage, and archival materials, she questions borders, memory practices, and the body as a site of lived experience. Her work stems from an interest in stories and in the ways context and time shape the meanings we make of them. Working primarily with analog photography, she embraces slowness and material limitations as both a method and a way of seeing. Alongside her artistic practice, she works as a freelance photographer and facilitates image-based workshops focused on artists’ books, self-publishing, and collaborative learning.
Education
2022 Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie, photography class of Ute Mahler and Göran Gnaudschun, Berlin
2016 Master’s Degree (with honors) in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Univ. of Vienna
2011 Bachelor’s Degree in Political Sciences, Univ. of Trieste
Workshops and Teaching
2024–2027 Eigenseiten, image- and book-based workshops across Berlin
2022 Our body/selves, self-portraiture workshop with Stephanie Telomere, UdK Berlin
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Re-Membering: Traces of Armenian life in the diaspora, Villa Oppenheim, Berlin
2024 PhMuseum Days, FOLIO, Bologna
2023 A sense of place, Photographic Exploration Project, Berlin
2022 One eye sees, the other feels, Zone Magazine, Daste, Bergamo
2021 Die Rose ist ohne Warum, Stiftung Schloss Neuhardenberg, Germany
2020 Transitions, Rotterdam Photo Festival
Solo Exhibitions
2017 Denali Thai Food, Bivy, Anchorage, Alaska
Reviews and Interviews
2026 Listening to Echoes by Artsvi Bakhchinyan for The Armenian Mirror-Spectator
2023 Chronographies and the experience of transience by Steve Bisson for Urbanautica, Journal of Visual Anthropology and Cultural Landscapes
Selected Printed Features
2025 The Prince Edit, Volume I, A/W 2025
2024 On Envy, zine by fffllleeessshhh
2024 POP Adriatico – Porto Osservatorio Partecipato, Adriatico Book Club
2022 Edited, selected graduates from the International Center of Photography in New York and the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie in Berlin
Academic Publications and Talks
2019 ‘Between archive and repertoire: The Ju|’hoansi San Living Museum in Grashoek,’ in W. Zips and M. Zips-Mairitsch (eds), Bewildering Borders: The Economy of Conservation in Africa, pp. 121-135, Berlin and Zürich: LIT Verlag
2018 ‘Attempts at collaboration between ethnography and performance (or: how to fail better?),’ in Art, Materiality and Representation conference by Royal Anthropological Institute, British Museum, London
2018 ‘Trespassing Borders: Encounters and Resistances in Performance Art,’ in T. Fillitz and P. van der Grijp (eds), An Anthropology of Contemporary Art: Practices, Markets, and Collectors, pp. 163-178, London: Bloomsbury
2017 “On participation, beyond participation: a conversation with Maya Quattropani”, roots§routes – research on visual cultures, No 24 | January – April
2016 “Intertwining discourses: a visual history of bodies”, roots§routes – research on visual cultures, No 22 | May – August
2016 ‘Trespassing borders: encounters and collaborations in performance art,’ in Anthropological legacies and human futures conference by the European Association of Social Anthropologists, Univ. of Milano-Bicocca
2014 ‘The performing body-in-space through the lens: The Living Museum in Namibia,’ in Anthropology and Photography conference by Royal Anthropological Institute, British Museum, London
Education
2022 Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie, photography class of Ute Mahler and Göran Gnaudschun, Berlin
2016 Master’s Degree (with honors) in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Univ. of Vienna
2011 Bachelor’s Degree in Political Sciences, Univ. of Trieste
Workshops and Teaching
2024–2027 Eigenseiten, image- and book-based workshops across Berlin
2022 Our body/selves, self-portraiture workshop with Stephanie Telomere, UdK Berlin
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Re-Membering: Traces of Armenian life in the diaspora, Villa Oppenheim, Berlin
2024 PhMuseum Days, FOLIO, Bologna
2023 A sense of place, Photographic Exploration Project, Berlin
2022 One eye sees, the other feels, Zone Magazine, Daste, Bergamo
2021 Die Rose ist ohne Warum, Stiftung Schloss Neuhardenberg, Germany
2020 Transitions, Rotterdam Photo Festival
Solo Exhibitions
2017 Denali Thai Food, Bivy, Anchorage, Alaska
Reviews and Interviews
2026 Listening to Echoes by Artsvi Bakhchinyan for The Armenian Mirror-Spectator
2023 Chronographies and the experience of transience by Steve Bisson for Urbanautica, Journal of Visual Anthropology and Cultural Landscapes
Selected Printed Features
2025 The Prince Edit, Volume I, A/W 2025
2024 On Envy, zine by fffllleeessshhh
2024 POP Adriatico – Porto Osservatorio Partecipato, Adriatico Book Club
2022 Edited, selected graduates from the International Center of Photography in New York and the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie in Berlin
Academic Publications and Talks
2019 ‘Between archive and repertoire: The Ju|’hoansi San Living Museum in Grashoek,’ in W. Zips and M. Zips-Mairitsch (eds), Bewildering Borders: The Economy of Conservation in Africa, pp. 121-135, Berlin and Zürich: LIT Verlag
2018 ‘Attempts at collaboration between ethnography and performance (or: how to fail better?),’ in Art, Materiality and Representation conference by Royal Anthropological Institute, British Museum, London
2018 ‘Trespassing Borders: Encounters and Resistances in Performance Art,’ in T. Fillitz and P. van der Grijp (eds), An Anthropology of Contemporary Art: Practices, Markets, and Collectors, pp. 163-178, London: Bloomsbury
2017 “On participation, beyond participation: a conversation with Maya Quattropani”, roots§routes – research on visual cultures, No 24 | January – April
2016 “Intertwining discourses: a visual history of bodies”, roots§routes – research on visual cultures, No 22 | May – August
2016 ‘Trespassing borders: encounters and collaborations in performance art,’ in Anthropological legacies and human futures conference by the European Association of Social Anthropologists, Univ. of Milano-Bicocca
2014 ‘The performing body-in-space through the lens: The Living Museum in Namibia,’ in Anthropology and Photography conference by Royal Anthropological Institute, British Museum, London
Photography by Saber Zammouri, 2025