Philipp Treudt
Germany
Philipp Treudt is a German photographer based in Cologne. After training as a media designer, he studied photography at the Lichtblick School in Cologne. His long-term documentary projects explore identity, belonging and the tension between personal experience and social perception.
His work has been exhibited internationally in Germany, the Netherlands, Georgia and Spain. His photographs and projects have been published by DIE ZEIT, Rolling Stone, SZ-Magazin, Trouw and other publications. Since 2026, his artistic practice has also been accompanied by photographer and educator Peter Bialobrzeski.
Project
"Beyond the Gallop" explores hobby horsing as a youth culture situated between sport, performance and imagination. Predominantly shaped by girls and young women, the community offers a space for friendship, self-expression and belonging. At the same time, its participants are frequently exposed to ridicule and hostility, particularly on social media.
Moving between competitions, training sessions, portraits and private moments, the project examines the tension between a protected community and its perception from the outside. It asks why certain forms of passion are readily respected while others—especially those associated with young women—are dismissed or devalued.
Statement
My photographic practice focuses on people and communities whose lives unfold between self-perception and the expectations imposed on them by society. I am interested in questions of identity, belonging, dignity and visibility.
I work through long-term encounters, returning to the same people and places in order to move beyond the first, easily readable image. Rather than attempting to explain my subjects from the outside, I try to create photographs that preserve complexity and contradiction.
My work combines observation with close collaboration. I am particularly interested in the moment when a protected personal world becomes publicly visible—and in what this visibility makes possible, but also what it puts at risk.