About

Dora Lionstone (*1986, Potsdam, DE) is a visual artist based in Amsterdam, NL. She graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2020 with a BA in Photography and previously worked as a software engineer in Germany, holding an MSc in Media Informatics. Her work has been presented widely in international exhibitions, festivals, and institutions, including FOAM and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. She was selected as FRESH EYES European Talent in 2021, was runner-up for the OD Photo Prize in 2022, and has received multiple grants from the Mondriaan Fund. She is the co-founder of SPROUT PUBLISH.

Influenced by her background in software engineering, Lionstone approaches the image as a system that can be dismantled, reprogrammed, and reassembled. Her practice explores how realities are shaped through technical, psychological, and imaginative frameworks, influencing our understanding of the visible and invisible. She works across photography, installation, animation, and text, combining rule-based processes with intuitive, material interventions.

Central to her work is an interest in constructed worlds and alternative logics. She often uses repetition and restricted visual languages to create environments where order and instability coexist. Rather than seeing images as fixed, her work treats them as open structures that evolve through intervention. By merging analytical, speculative, and poetic approaches, she challenges rigid binary thinking and linear narratives, opening spaces where science, imagination, and vulnerability come together for new forms of sense-making.




info@doralionstone.com | @doralionstoned

EXHIBITIONS


EDUCATION


  • 2016-2020 BA Photography, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL
  • 2008-2011 MSc Media Informatics, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, DE
  • 2005-2008 BSc Media Informatics, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, DE

AWARDS & GRANTS


  • 2025 MONDRIAAN FUND, Voucher Development
  • 2024 MONDRIAAN FUND, Voucher Artist With Child
  • 2023 GOMMA GRANT - GOMMA NEW FLAVOURS AWARD 2022, Finalist
  • 2023 BOUTOGRAPHIES, Shortlisted
  • 2022 OD PHOTO PRIZE, Runner-Up
  • 2022 GIBELLINA PHOTOROAD FESTIVAL, Shortlisted
  • 2022 INCADAQUÉS PHOTO FESTIVAL, Runner-Up
  • 2022 MONDRIAAN FUND, Artist Start Grant
  • 2021 FRESH EYES EUROPEAN TALENT
  • 2021 GUP NEW PHOTO TALENT
  • 2020 ATHENS PHOTO FESTIVAL, Shortlisted
  • 2016 JULIA MARGARET CAMERON AWARD, Category Winner
  • 2005 HEIDI KLEBER AWARD, Winner

RESIDENCIES / Workshops


  • 2024-2025 Nearest Truth Year-long Photobook Workshop, Physical Workshop Tier
  • 2022 Arteles, Hämeenkyrö, Finland

INTERVIEWS


PRINTED PUBLICATIONS


ONLINE FEATURES


BOOK FAIRS / SHOPS


  • GHENT Artbook Fair, BYOB Fair, THE OTHER BOOK, CHARTA Photobook Festival, FOAM Museum, Fanzineist Vienna, Fotoboekenbeurs, Stedelijk Museum, Polycopies, Libros Mutantes, Unseen Photo Fair

CONNECT ON


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