Joel Stevenett’s photographs explore how places shape humans, and vice versa. His works of colour photography capture the vibrant and dynamic environments that people occupy and move through in their everyday lives, from public squares to the private spaces of one’s home. Stevenett is best known for his long-term project “Kotti auf ewig” (“Kotti forever”): Together with social worker Ioana Nicolae, the photographer routinely visits the Kottbusser Tor in Berlin Kreuzberg to portray locals and passerbys that together make up contemporary German society in all its diversity and complexity. Shot on a four-by-five plate camera, Stevenett’s portraits pulsate with an energy characteristic of the places from which they are taken. 

Joel Stevenett (born in Niagara Falls, Canada, in 1980) is a Berlin-based photographer. He completed his education for interior architecture at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. His portraits have been exhibited across Germany and the United States, as well as published in prominent newspapers and magazines such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, de Volkskrant Magazine, and True North Journal. In 2016, Stevenett received recognition as a shortlist finalist in the FotoFilmic ’16 International Juried Film Photography Competition.