Lena Rosa Händle was born in Berlin and studied artistic photography at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig (Diploma, 2011; Master/Meisterschülerin, 2013) and at the Facultat de Belles Arts, Barcelona.

The work of Lena Rosa Händle, which is constituted across photographs, installations, collages and objects, portrays a vast openness in light of an intense focus on people in their social and personal realities as well as their visibilities and cultural codes. Often comprising of multi-part installations, they create a complex tableaux and visual imagination closely connected to the social reality of their subjects; they postulate society’s blueprints dealing critically with contemporary and historical societies and practices, towards a search for utopian potentials.                                                            

Her work was shown, among others, in Vienna (KUNST HAUS WIEN, Künstlerhaus Wien, Xhibit, Academy of Visual Arts Vienna, das weisse haus, VBKÖ, Kubus EXPORT- der transparente Raum), Leipzig (Spinnerei, Halle 14, Werkschauhalle), Berlin (Schwules Museum, CO, KN), Salzburger Kunstverein, Barcelona and Istanbul.      

She authored the artist book Laughing Inverts with Kehrer Publisher Heidelberg/Berlin (2015) and was nominated for the German Photobook Award, (2016); She was Artist in Residence of the Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria, (BKA) in New York City (2017). She is distinguished with several scholarships (among others Rosa-Luxemburg, Cultural Foundation of the free State of Saxony), and Fundings (among others Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria, Society of Friends of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna) and her work is part of the Public Art Collection, Dresden.   

Since 2005 she teaches in different formats in self-organized as well as institutional contexts. She was part of the queer-feminist artist group Gabifront and the Off-Space T.V.O.D. in Berlin (2009-11) and has curated and co-curated exhibitions and symposia in Leipzig and Vienna (No Animals Were Harmed During this Production, 2012; Counter/Acting Self-Organised Universitities, Vienna, 2014).                                                         

She was assistant professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (2013-17).

www.lenarosahaendle.de