Dagmar Gester is a visual artist working at the intersection of photography, material processes, and social inquiry.

Her conceptual practice explores questions of belonging and Heimat, focusing on biographical breaks, dependencies, and the fragile conditions under which belonging is negotiated.

Photography serves as a starting point in her work—not as representation, but as a trace of the real. Gester transforms, layers, or relinquishes the photographic image entirely, working instead with the material itself: paper, soil, surfaces, residues. These materials are not illustrative; they act as carriers of memory, labor, and lived experience.

Her projects often unfold over long periods and are research-based, dialogical, and process-oriented. They move between art, archive, and other fields of knowledge, creating translation spaces in which personal narratives intersect with collective histories.