May - July 2026
Long before this exhibition series began, the representation of women was already a wonderful mess of fascination, contradiction, and debate — And thankfully, it still is.
Tony Federico
Waiting / Koh Samui, Thailand 2026 / Digital photography
About
The reason to present a photo by Tony Federico as the first contribution to this year's Woman Portrait Gallery has to do with an urgent situation. Both Tony Federico and his daughter Altea Federico have been part of our group show before — Tony with his backstage Polaroids from Milan's fashion world, Altea with photographs from Berlin's club culture. Their work appeared side by side: a father and daughter working in the same medium and style: Polaroid shots, behind-the-scenes. Today, the situation is very different. Altea has been in prison in Thailand for more than four months. Tony left Berlin and traveled there to be close to her. Without knowing the legal circumstances of the case, what I see is a young woman facing an extremely difficult situation and a father who has dropped everything to be by her side. When Tony sent me a photograph he had made in Thailand, at first I wasn't sure who I was looking at. The short hair, black-and-white, a partially hidden face. The woman in the photograph is not Altea, yet the image seems to carry the weight of everything Tony is experiencing. There is none of the glamour of his Milan Polaroids and none of the energy from Altea's nightlife photos. Instead, the picture feels dark and uncertain. But even in the middle of a crisis, Tony's drive to take photos remains. This will not solve his problems, but hopefully it helps to process what feels overwhelming. By presenting his work „Waiting" at Kaffeemitte, we want to signal to Tony and Altea that they are not forgotten. We hope they'll be back in Berlin soon!
concept
The subject of the woman's portrait is not only visually compelling – it is also a starting point for great stories about projection, identity, desire, power, memory, or contradiction. Who is a woman, and who is not? What are so-called positive feminine attributes, and how can all genders adopt them? And why do so-called negative masculine attributes seem to play such a significant role in our time? The collection has now grown to 50 works, with a selection once again presented at Kaffeemitte. Special thanks to all the artists who contributed their personal interpretation of a woman’s portrait.
with artwork by
Alex Sokolov / Alex Zika / Altea Federico / Anastasiia Khadzynova / Andrea Luque / Botticchio / Caro Pepe / Casa de Balneario / Dared / Darren Cullen / Eva Contreras / Florian Thiemann / Franka Sühlo / Gabriel Denaes / Gairah Praskovia / Jose Roberto / Käpt'n Kinky / Katarina Eva / Liliana Rasmussen / Lilika Strezoska / Lou Held / Lubomír Fiala / Lucille Guder / Lydia Prien / Macarena Cox / Marina Anken / Martin Krusche / Martin Serpentis / Matus Toth / Mein Lieber Prost / Michael Joseph / Naicha / Nina Barnini / Paolo Gallo / Patricia Nigri / Paul Rosenbauer / Pia Henkel / Pongsuang Choop / Ramona Ursache / Sunny Strange / Therese Rosier / Tom Pollhammer / Tony Federico / Vassilis Konstantinou / Zora Jurenkova
Contact
Kaffeemitte Weinmeisterstr. 9a 10178 Berlin
Gregor Hutz art@kaffeemitte.de
May - July 2026 at Kaffeemitte, Berlin