Maja Gratzfeld is a visual artist working across lens-based practices, textile processes, and sculptural forms. Her practice begins where time feels layered rather than linear — shaped by memory, quiet rituals, and the sensory intelligence of materials. Photography, textile crafts, clay, and archival fragments form the core of her work, exploring how identity, inheritance, and cultural memory are passed not only through words but through touch, gesture, and embodied presence. She studied Fine Art at the HfBK Dresden, École supérieure des beaux-arts de Nîmes, and the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. In 2014, she was awarded the title of Meisterschülerin at HfBK Dresden. Currently, she works as a Lecturer in Critical Art Education and Diversity at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences NRW in Paderborn, Germany. Living between languages, geographies, and contexts, her work often holds what is fragile, unresolved, or unspoken. Repetition and intimate, tactile gestures — folding, staining, stitching, tearing — shape the rhythm of her making. Rather than seeking resolution, she creates spaces where both beauty and rupture can quietly coexist.

“Nothing in my practice has ever grown from urgency. Everything begins slowly — with a pause, a memory, a material left untouched for a while. I applied to Künstlerdorf because I long for that kind of pace again: a place where work unfolds through intuition and continuity, not pressure. A quiet rhythm where thinking becomes making. Returning to Germany in autumn feels like a quiet homecoming — to the season I feel most rooted in, and to landscapes that shaped how I see and sense. At Schöppingen, I hope to follow this inner pull — to let the soft light, the land, and the atmosphere guide me toward new forms and gestures. During my time here, I will continue work on three upcoming exhibitions. I plan to deepen my exploration of weaving, natural dyeing with ancient pigments, patchwork, and other hand-based processes not as techniques, but as tactile ways of thinking. I’m interested in how slowness, repetition, and the physical labor of making can carry memory, presence, and transformation. What makes Schöppingen truly special is its vibrant artist community and the authentic dialogue that takes place here — a precious gift especially since the isolations of recent years. This environment of mutual support and creative exchange nourishes my practice in ways I deeply value. For me, this residency is not a pause from life, but a return to its deeper rhythm — one I look forward to sharing with this unique community.“