Between 2022 and 2024, Sibylle Fendt and Paula Winkler photographed numerous actions by climate activists across German-speaking countries. They portrayed participants and documented the actions and strategies of various climate movements.

Their work follows multiple narrative threads: documentary images of the protests are interwoven with still lifes that evoke the sense of an archive. In doing so, Fendt and Winkler confront a dilemma that appears almost impossible to resolve. One of the central questions they ask is: How effective can these protests be in the face of climate change?

Though there are no definitive answers, the activists they document are willing to devote their lives to the cause—accepting significant personal consequences such as quitting their jobs, facing court proceedings, or even serving prison sentences. It is a sense of urgency and despair that fuels their actions. The project ‘Day X’ draws a portrait of a generation that feels it has no choice but to act.

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Sibylle Fendt, born in 1974 in Karlsruhe, studied photography at the University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld. She lives and works in Berlin and has been a member of the Ostkreuz photography agency since 2010. Fendt photographs for editorial publications, teaches photography at various universities, and continuously develops independent long-term projects that are

Paula Winkler, born in 1980 in Berlin, studied photography at the University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld. She lives and works as a freelance photographer in Berlin. In her independent work, she explores the gendered body and its representation in visual media. Alongside her artistic practice, she photographs for various magazines, agencies, and publishers. Winkler has been a member of the Ostkreuz photography agency since 2022.