who is lily?

Lily Alssen is an artist whose photographic and conceptual work challenges the limits of the visible. With a minimalist, precise, and graphic aesthetic, as well as conceptual depth, she explores the complex dimensions of human identity and perception. Paradoxically, Alssen employs a medium that traditionally captures only the physically present to reveal precisely what eludes direct view—the invisible, the unshowable, and the hidden.

She most recently deepened her artistic practice with a Master of Photography at RMIT in Melbourne. Previously, she completed a degree in Communication Design in Ireland and Germany. Her work is strongly influenced by her early experiences with analog photography and darkroom processes, as well as her training in drawing and painting—elements that continue to enrich her photography today.

Her works have been exhibited in Australia, Germany, and Lithuania. Alongside her artistic career, Alssen has over a decade of experience as an art director. With a focus on photography and concept development, she has worked in Germany and Australia, realizing design projects that have gained global reach—a duality that enriches her artistic practice with knowledge and transferability.

 

If a thought, a question, or just a »hello« crosses your mind—say hi.

CV.

S O L O   E X H I B I T I O N S

2024 Projection Nights. ART BREAK. Markt Schwaben, Germany

2024 zwischenspiel/interlude. Townhall Markt Schwaben. Markt Schwaben, Germany

2023 Infinity Mirror and Infinity Mirror [B Side]. kmkb. Munich, Germany

 

G R O U P   E X H I B I T I O N S   ( S E L E C T I O N )

2024 Creative Weekend. Ilmazu. Munich, Germany

2023 Projection Night. Nida International Photography Symposium. Nida, Lithuania

2023 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize. PhotoAccess. Canberra, Australia

2022 Without Walls. Online. Queen Victoria Women’s Centre. Melbourne, Australia

2021 2021 Emerging Artists Exhibition. Emerging Artists Collective. Melbourne, Australia

2020 2020 ILFORD CCP Salon. Center for Contemporary Photography and online. Melbourne, Australia

2019 2019 ILFORD CCP Salon. Center for Contemporary Photography. Melbourne, Australia

2015 Micro Vernissage. Private Gallery. Munich, Germany

 

P H O T O B O O K S

2018 @ MAISON MISCH MASCH. A booklet with photographs capturing a stay in a designer’s apartment.

2018 SOMEWHERE BETWEEN NOW AND THEN. A booklet with a loose selection of photographs, independent of time and place.

2013 31°N · 8°W. A booklet with travel photographs from a trip to Morocco.

2011 41°24’N · 2°10’E – pic(k)s of the day. A book with photographs taken each day on a two-month stay in Barcelona, Spain.

2006 Don’t Forget You Will Forget. A Collection of photographic and typographic works on the topic of Forgetting.

2005 The Gambia. A hand-made book with travel photographs taken on a trip to the Gambia.

 

C O N T R I B U T I O N   I N   A   P U B L I C A T I O N

2012 The BMW Book. NY: teNeues. New York, USA

 

O T H E R   P U B L I C A T I O N S   ( S E L E C T I O N )

2023 Lily Alssen – Kunst im Schaufenster (Lily Alssen – Art in the Window). Article. kmkb. Munich, Germany

2021 Nachdenken über das Unsichtbare (Reflecting on the Invisible). Artist portrait. Ebersberger Zeitung. Ebersberg, Deutschland