Photo: Stella Deborah Traub
Francesco Giordano is a queer photographer, visual artist, and curator based in Munich. Born in 1992 in southern Germany to Italian and Spanish parents, his artistic practice centers on LGBTQIA+ issues, migration, memory culture, and questions of visibility and social justice.
Francesco’s work moves at the intersection of documentary photography and artistic research. With a background in Design Studies (B.A. in Photodesign, M.A. in Applied Design Research), accessibility, clarity, and sustainable communication are central to his approach. His projects create spaces where marginalized perspectives become visible, collective experiences can be shared, and new forms of solidarity can be explored.
He realizes interdisciplinary exhibitions and publications, including Rainbow Refugees (Stories) (2019), 377. Inside India’s Queer Community (2020), queer:raum (2022), and Mit Euren Spuren (2024). His practice is strongly community-oriented: he understands art as a tool to spark dialogue, build connections, and make political and social issues experientially accessible.
Francesco draws inspiration from the diversity of queer lived experiences, the solidarity within communities, and their collective pursuit of social progress. His work reflects how identity, history, and political action are intertwined, and how art can function as a platform for empowerment.
Francesco’s current project, Arondeus Widerstand (2025), focuses on Dutch artist and resistance fighter Willem Arondeus and explores queer forms of resistance and resilience, in the past and present. Through a combination of photography, drag performance, film, and installation, the project weaves together historical research with personal reflection and collective narratives. It asks how queer people build resilience today, which strategies of resistance emerge, and how art can contribute to an active culture of remembrance.
contact:
c/o Atelier Thal | Fraunbergstraße 11 | 81379 Munich
www.atelier-thal.de | subscribe for our newsletter
0049 157 8467 8778 | mail@francesco-giordano.com
Fonts (Anaïs & Rois) by NEW LETTERS
Photo: Stella Deborah Traub
Grants/Prizes (selected)
10/2025 – Cultural Department Munich, purchase of works for the Artothek Munich
07/2025 – Mit Euren Spuren – Shortlist Text Photo Book Prize, Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles, France
03/2025 – BBK Comission – Verbindungslinien for Arondeus Widerstand
04/2025 – Deutschlandstipendium
03/2024 – Research grant International/Intercultural of the city of Munich
03/2024 – Förderpreis für Fotografie der Landeshauptstadt München (nominee)
01/2024 – VG Bildkunst Stiftung Kulturwerk Publikationsförderung – Grant
07/2023 – Cultural Department Munich – Studio Funding (3 years)
06/2023 – BBK Project Grant - Verbindungslinien for Man spricht Deutsch
12/2022 – VG Bildkunst Stiftung Kulturwerk, Förderung von Fort- und Weiterbildungsvorhaben – Grant
06/2022 – Winner in the category photo book with 377. Inside India's Queer Community at Belfast Photo Festival, UK
06/2022 – Bayern Innovativ "Junge Kunst und neue Wege" – Grant
10/2021 – VG Bildkunst, Neustart Kultur – Grant
07/2017 – International Photography Grant in the category Free Photo Contest, Architecture (nominee)
Residencies
02/2025 – Research residency in Milan, realization of the project Queer Artists Milano
01/2024 – Artist-in-residency at SÍM Residency in Reykjavík, Iceland working on the project Queer Artists Reykjavík
06/2023 – Residency at Galerie Einwand of the Münchner Stadtmuseum working on the project queer:raum X Galerie Einwand: Who am I where?
Exhibitions (selected)
2025-2026 – Mit Euren Spuren - as part of the „Pride Photo Exhibition" in the Netherlands
11/2025 – Mit Euren Spuren – As part of the group exhibition „Life Stories" of Breda Photo Festival in the Netherlands
11/2025 – Exhibition of Arondeus Widerstand at Habibi Kiosk of Münchner Kammerspiele
08 -09/2025 – Exhibition of the project Hide and Seek at Habibi Kiosk of Münchner Kammerspiele
08/2025 – Mit Euren Spuren – As part of the group exhibition „The line between us" at Galerie Nord, Berlin
07/2025 – Arondeus' Widerstand (work in progress)- queer:raum Jahresausstellung at Feierwerk Farbenladen, Munich
08/2024 – Queer Artists Munich Vol. 2 – queer:raum Jahresausstellung at Feierwerk Farbenladen, Munich
09/2024 – Mit Euren Spuren – group exhibition at Ander Art Festival
09/2024 – Part of Plat(t)form 2024 - Fotomuseum Winterthur
06/2024 – Mit Euren Spuren - group exhibition, Seidlvilla München
05/2024 – Queer Artists Munich Vol. 2 - Galerie des Oberbürgermeisters (2nd floor), Neues Rathaus Munich
03/2024 – Part of the exhibition of Förderpreise 2024 der Landeshauptstadt München, nominated in the category photography, Rathausgalerie Munich
03/2024 – Man spricht Deutsch - eine Intervention, Artothek & Bildersaal, Munich
12/2023 – Presentation of the project Man Spricht Deutsch with Sandra Singh at FLORIDA Lothringer 13, Munich
12/2023 – Group exhibition with BBK in Galerie der Künstler*innen, Munich
11/2023 – Group exhibition of the masterclass f3-Portrait with Sibylle Fendt in Freiraum für Fotografie with Ms Brini Olsen in Berlin
10/2023 – Exhibition of Mit Euren Spuren during DENKRAUM DEUTSCHLAND 2023 – HEY ALTER! at Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich
06/2023 – Exhibition of The own walls heal wounds during the Ljubljana Pride Festival in Slovenia
05/2023 – Exhibition of A Queen is a King is a Quing in cooperation with Munich Dance Hinstories in the Habibi Kiosk of Münchner Kammerspiele
03/2023 – Group exhibition during the international weeks against racism at Alte Utting in Munich
02/2023 – Group exhibition We kissed with „Panty Paradise“ at Kösk in Munich
11/2022 – Exhibition of my publications at Super BOOKS 3, Haus der Kunst, Munich
10/2022 – Exhibition of The own walls heal wounds in Rathausgalerie Kunsthalle during I Have No Words – There Is No Title in Munich
09/2022 – Solo exhibition of the project "Italienisches Leben in München" at Münchenstift in Munich
09/2022 – Exhibition of queer:raum during the Ander Art Festival in Munich
07/2022 – First queer:raum exhibion at Münchner Aids-Hilfe e.V. during the CSD in Munich
06/2022 – 377. Inside India's Queer Community photo book winner at Belfast Photo Festival
10/2021 – Exhibition of 377. Inside India's Queer Community at "Cafe Lozzi", Munich
07/2021 – Exhibition of 377. Inside India's Queer Community during Gay Pride at "Das Zwo", Munich
06-11/2020 – Fluchtursache: Liebe, special exhibition in Ballinstadt, Hamburg
12/2019 – Rainbow Refugees (Stories) exhibition at Tollwood Festival, Munich
04/2019 – Rainbow Refugees (Stories) group exhibition and event in MUCCA, Munich
11/2018 – Halb Voll / Halb Leer group exhibition in Farbenladen, Munich
11/2018 – Photo18, Munich Exhibition of the Rainbow Refugees Booklets
10/2017 – Photography on a Postcard Exhibition in Shoreditch, London
07/2015 – beziehungsweise, group exhibition in Farbenladen Munich
Features / Publications (selected)
10/2025 – Süddeutsche Zeitung – Flaggen an der Designfakultät: „Ein schönes Zeichen von Inklusion, Weltoffenheit und Vielfalt“ (Interview with Sabine Buchwald)
07/2025 – GLAMOUR – Trans* Seniorin Sabrina Berndt im Interview: “Du musst nicht perfekt sein – du musst da sein” (Interview with Hanah Madlener)
11/2023 – MANNSCHAFT MAGAZIN – Crowdfunding: Projekt über Queer im Alter (Interview with Greg Zwygart)
06/2022 – Süddeutsche Zeitung – Queerness ist auch eine politische Haltung (by Clara Löffler and Lea Mohr)
12/2021 – Süddeutsche Zeitung – Queerer Stolz (by Sarah Zapf)
07/2021 – Süddeutsche Zeitung – Zwischen Tradition und Moderne (by Sarah Zapf)
04/2021 – Zeit online – LGBTIQA in Indien: Ich will meiner Mutter nicht noch mehr Kummer bereiten (by Stefanie Witterauf and Maria Chrstoph)
02/2021 – MANNSCHAFT MAGAZIN – Paragraf 377: Queere Inder*innen erzählen ihre Geschichten (Interview with Andrea Melli)
02/2021 – MUCBOOK – Crowdfunding: Queere Begegnungen mit Indien (Interview by Florian Kraus)
10/2020 – Abendzeitung –„Eine Jugend in Deutschland": Vom Abstürzen und Fliegen (by Michael Stadler)
02/2020 – Spiegel – „HIV zu haben, ist kein Verbrechen" (by Stefanie Witterauf and Maria Christoph)
12/2019 – VICE – Massenproteste in Indien: Diese Frauen demonstrieren gegen Vergewaltigungen (by Stefanie Witterauf and Maria Christoph)
06/2019 – VICE – „Queere Senioren erzählen von ihren Coming-Outs“ (by Maria Christoph)
07/2019 – Leo – „Geschichten, die erzählt werden müssen“ (Interview with Bernd Müller)
07/2019 – Passauer Neue Presse – „Die Freiheit zu lieben“ (by Jasmin Ehbauer)
04/2019 – Süddeutsche Zeitung – „Ich finde, er kann auf seine Geschichte stolz sein" (Interview with Julia Bergmann)
04/2019 – MUCBOOK – Rainbow Refugees (Stories) – LGBTI-Geflüchtete erzählen ihre Geschichten (by Anna Kirchhofer)
09/2016 – Süddeutsche Zeitung – „Mein München: Flaucher" (Interview with Stefanie Witterauf)