Bio
Dzifa Peters is a German Ghanaian visual artist and researcher based in Lisbon. She holds a PhD in Culture Studies from Universidade Católica Portuguesa and Justus Liebig University Giessen and is a junior researcher at UCP’s Research Centre for Communication and Culture.
Her work connects visual culture, postcolonial studies, migration, memory, and arts-based research. She received the Thinking Photography Research Award from the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation and the German Photographic Society (DGPh) in 2025, and the Young Scholars Prize 2026 from the Walter Benjamin Kolleg at University of Bern. She studied Fine Arts at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and Media Arts at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM).
Research Work & Artistic Practice
Her research fields include postcolonial and decolonial studies, migration studies, memory studies, performativity studies, and visual culture studies. She also includes arts-based research into her scientific work by using hybrid methods in which her artistic practice becomes part of knowledge production and scientific endeavors. In her artistic practice, Dzifa Peters examines forms of cultural identity and their representations. Her work deals with the experience of transitory switches between different cultural perspectives, identities and their representations. Questions of cultural identity are therefore of concern to her, as are global developments - aspects of territory, globalization, migration and postcolonial discourses. Her work is project oriented. As an artist scholar who grew up in two different cultures (Germany and Ghana), she increasingly uses autobiographical material in an auto-fictional manner to negotiate collective topics.
CV
Dzifa Peters Ph.D. – Visual Artist and Researcher
EDUCATION
Universidade Católica Portuguesa, The Lisbon Consortium Ph.D. in Culture Studies, Double Degree in Cotutelle with Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Supervised by Prof. Isabel Capeloa Gil, Prof. Michael Basseler 2018-2023.
KHM – Kunsthochschule für Mdien/ Academy of Media Arts Cologne, MA/ Postgraduate Diploma in Media Arts, with Prof. Beate Gütschow, Prof. Lilian Haberer, Prof. Marcel Odenbach 2017.
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf Diploma in Fine Arts, with Prof. Thomas Grünfeld and Prof. Rita McBride Master Student with Prof. Rita McBride 2014.
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS AND AWARDS
Young Scholars Prize 2026 for Science Communication and Interdisciplinary Research from the Walter Benjamin Kolleg at University of Bern, Switzerland, 2026.
Publication fund of the women* promotion program Career key: Publishing and Peer Review from the Giessen Graduate Centre for Social Sciences, Business, Economics and Law (GGS) at Justus-Liebig-University Giessen 2025.
Thinking Photography Award 2025 by the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie e.V. (DGPh) for doctoral thesis in Culture Studies "Tropes of Polarity: Visual Representation and Afrodiasporic Identities” https://www.deutscheboersephotographyfoundation.org/downloads/Media_Release_DGPh_Awards_winners_en_final.pdf
Porticus Postdoctoral Fellowship Program IHD – Integral Human Development at Cados, Católica Doctoral School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2024-2026.
CECC - Research Centre for Communication and Culture Travel Fund for NeMLA Convention 2022, Baltimore 2022.
FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal Mixed Scholarship for Justus-Liebig- Universität Giessen 2022.
FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Portugal 4-year Doctoral Research Scholarship 2018.
HANGAR, Lisbon Artist Residency 2017.
DAAD, Germany
Project Grant for Ghana 2016.
Ministry for Families, Children, Youth, Culture and Sports NRW Travel Grant for Ghana 2015.
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Master Student Award from Prof. Rita McBride 2014.
Kunstverein Düsseldorf
Travel Grant for Los Angeles, with Rita McBride Class, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf 2013.
Alfred-Krupp-Stiftung Essen Travel Grant for Madrid 2000.
INVITED LECTURES AND TALKS
Lecture and performance for the Award Ceremony of the Young Scholars Prize 2026 for Science Communication and Interdisciplinary Research from the Walter Benjamin Kolleg at the University of Bern, November 2026.
Module RitA, podium talk and roundtable on arts-based research at the doctoral program SINTA – Studies in the Arts at Walter Benjamin Kolleg, University of Bern, November 2026.
Podium Conversation with Cate Lartey from Black Archive Germany in the context of the exhibition Community. Photography and Belonging at Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf April 2026.
Roundtable talk in the context of the artist Edgar de Oliveira’s exhibition Why Do I Need To State The Obvious, at Casa do Comum, Lisbon March 2026.
Presentation and Pop-up exhibit for conference (Re)Pensar o Desenvolvimento: Práticas, Diálogos e Memórias, Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for IHD - Integral Human Development February 2026.
Guest lecture as part of the Global Art Histories Lecture Series entitled: “Arts and Contemporary Afro Cultures”, VUB - Vrije Universiteit Brussel 2025.
Award Ceremony & Lecture for Thinking Photography Award by the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie e.V. (DGPh), Goethe Institute Paris 2025.
Guest lecture for Symposium Visual Legacies. Colonial Photographic Archives and the Self at Erasmus University Rotterdam 2025.
Co-chair of paper session Summer School Age of Excess, Universidade Católica Portuguesa 2025.
Connected Lives Conference, with Roundtable on "Wellbeing and transcultural Communities". CECC - Research Centre for Communication & Universidade Católica Portuguesa 2025.
Roundtable with Filipa Lowndes Vicente: A Diáspora Africana e a Representação: Questões Sociais através da Fotografia, Postdoctoral Program in Integral Human Development Cados, Católica Doctoral School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa 2024.
Research Seminar Tropes of Polarity: Diasporic Conversations, an event as part of the research program at HANGAR - Centro de Investigação Artística, Lisbon, compounding Dzifa Peters’ artistic practice and scholarly research in exchange with invited artists and scholars. First Edition: 2023.
Hangar On Art | “Hybridity Has Come A Long Way”
A conversation between Dzifa Peters and Ângela Ferreira about her artistic practice, discussing projects such as Maison Tropicale (2007), Dalaba: Sol d’Exil (2019), and her solo exhibition A Spontaneous Tour of Some Monuments of African Architecture (2021) at HANGAR - Centro de Investigação Artística, curated by Bruno Leitão 2022.
“Cultural Identities and their Representations”, Paper for International Symposium Decolonial Iconoclasm: City, Memory, Participation, Universidade Lisboa 2022.
Lecture “Spectral Identities and Photographic Tropes” for Symposium Undisciplining Photography, The Hague/ Rotterdam, organized by KABK - Royal Academy of Art, Nederlands Fotomuseum and Research Center for Material Culture 2021.
Lecture Performance How did I get into the picture? at HANGAR, Lisbon 2017.
CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS
“Walking on Clouds: Notes toward a Collaborative Archive of Black Belonging”, Paper for Black Aesthetics and the Affordances of Photography International Conference, Amerika-Institut, LMU München, forthcoming June 2027.
“Angela Ferreira’s Sonic Ways of Thinking: How to Create A Nexus”, Paper for Sound in Museums Conference, Mafra, Portugal 2025.
“Photography, Memory and Afrodiasporic Identities in the Context of Postmigration”, Paper for Performativity(ies) of Memory(ies) Interdisciplinary ConferenceSchool of Education, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal 2025.
“Places of Sanctuary in the Artistic Work of Liz Johnson Artur”, Paper for Afroeuropeans Conference 2022: Intersectional Challenges in Afroeuropean Communities, Brussel 2022.
Paper “Camouflage as a Principle of Coexistence and Agency”, Paper for Panel: Migration, Belonging, and Afro-Europeanness: Current Articulations and Future Perspectives (Part 2), NeMLA's 53rd Annual Convention, Baltimore US 2022 .
“Masquerades: Political Dimensions of Camouflage in AfroDiasporic Identities”. Paper Summer School Masquerades, TheLisbon Consortium, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon 2022.
Paper “Excavating the Archive: The Artistic Work of Omar Victor Diop”, Paper for MSA - Memory Studies Association Africa Regional Chapter: Annual Conference, South Africa/ Online 2021.
Paper “Independence, Resistance and the Postcolonial Invention of Self”, Paper for GEARS - The Global Empire and Resistance Scholarship Conference, Virginia US/ Online 2021.
Paper “Convivial Frictions: Ethics of Renegotiating Transcultural Relations in Contemporary Artistic Practices”, Paper for Summer School Conviviality The Lisbon Consortium/ 4Cs: From Conflict to Conviviality through Creativity and Culture 2021.
Workshop Photographic Reflections at CECC - Research Centre for Communication and Culture Lisbon, Organized by Dzifa Peters and Alfredo Brant 2021.
Paper “Notes on Mind and Body in Cultural Code Switching”, Paper for Summer School Neurohumanities The Lisbon Consortium 2019.
TEACHING
Guest lecture on arts-based research for the MA seminar Methods and Objects in Cultural Research at Universidade Católica Portuguesa November 2025 and forthcoming 2026.
“Intercultural Communication and Visual Culture”. An interactive seminar/ workshop session that looks at art and visual culture as a form of intercultural communication, particularly in the context of migration/ postmigration, memory and identity. Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2025.
Teaching on intersectionality and racism for postgraduate Program “Pós-Graduação em Interculturalidade e Diversidade”, Universidade Católica Portuguesa (postponed).
Co-Teaching with Prof. Claudia Hattendorff (Art History, JLU Giessen); Seminar: “(De)Colonizing Portraiture. Eine postkoloniale Geschichte des Porträts”, JLU Giessen WS 2022/23 2023.
Workshop “Introduction to Postcolonial Societies”, IPP Workshop Series, GCSC/ JLU Giessen WS 2022/23 2022.
PUBLICATIONS - peer reviewed
Books
Book Tropes of Polarity: Visual Representation and Afrodiasporic Identities. Solicited manuscript under revision for Duke University Press.
Articles
“A Tree is a Tree: Reflections on Storytelling through Afrodiasporic Family Archives”, In: Restor(y)ing the Archive: Explorations of Storytelling as a Critical Praxis, edtied by Kamila Krakowska Rodrigues, Open Library of Humanities Journal (OLHJ), forthcoming 2027.
“A Tree is a Tree: Photography, Memory and Afrodiasporic Identities in the Context of Postmigration (2024-2026)”, In: Integral Human Development, Alexandra Araújo, Helga Martins, Joana Romeiro, Raquel Ubach Trindade, Sílvia Caldeira (eds.), Universidade Católica Portuguesa forthcoming 2027.
Zurné, L., Bruns, C., & Manickam, S. K. (2026). “Reworking the Visual Legacies of Colonial Photographic Archives With and Through the Self: A Conversation With Dzifa Peters and Nurul Huda” Rashid. Vista, (17). Available online: https://revistavista.pt/index.php/vista/article/view/7053/7893
“Afrodiasporic Archives at the Crossroads of Belonging”. Chapter for journal INSERT, at the Research Focus Cultural Analysis in the Arts at the Zurich University of the Arts in the frame of the SNF research project “Insert Citation. Artistic-Scientific Analyses of Cultural Processes of Transmission”. Issue re/dis/ordering – vernacular archives as dynamic social agents and social performances of memory, edited by Ana de Almeida, Lena Ditte Nissen and Elif Süsler-Rohringer forthcoming November 2026.
“Die Performativität des Fotobuchs. Intersektionalität in den Projects von Nikki S Lee”. Chapter for journal FOTOGESCHICHTE June 2026.
Chapter “Ângela Ferreira’s Sonic Ways of Thinking: How to Create a Nexus”, as part of the Series: Artistic Research Collection,edited by Nuno Crespo, Escola das Artes, CITAR, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto forthcoming 2027.
Chapter “Camouflage and Hybridity in Postmigrant Black Cultures”, In: Contemporary Cultural Tools for Identities in the Making, edited by Fedrico Rudari and Luísa Santos as part of the second volume of (IM)MATERIAL CULTURE(S) AND POLITICS, London and New York: Routledge 2025.
Chapter “Do Edifício ao Monumento: Redistribuições Sensíveis na Esfera Pública” as 3rd part of the project: ASSEMBLEIA ORDINÁRIA (in Portuguese language) (forthcoming).
Essay “Places of Sanctuary in the Artistic Work of Liz Johnson Artur”, publication by The February Journal, Issue 01: Seeking Sanctuary 2023. Available online: https://thefebruaryjournal.org/en/article/96.
Book review “The Polyphonic Voices of Postmigration” KULT_online, Giessen 2022. Available online: https://journals.ub.uni-giessen.de/kult-online/article/view/1328.
Book chapter “Reach One Hundred”, Dzifa Peters, Linda Koncz. In: Luísa Santos (ed.) Portions of Share. 4 Artists and 3 Artists’ Books, Conceived under the project 4Cs: From Conflict to Conviviality through Creativity and Culture 2019.
‘Stipendium Vordemberge Gildewart 2014’, KIT Kunst im Tunnel und Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (Catalog) 2014.
EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
Presentation and Pop-up exhibit for conference (Re)Pensar o Desenvolvimento: Práticas, Diálogos e Memórias, Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for Integral Human Development IHD February 2026.
Perspicere: The Invention of Self – Postgraduate Diploma Exhibition Academy of Media Arts Cologne 2017.
Being a guest at Case – Projektraum für Fotografie 2017.
POR-BLING-INTER-FIST- FORM: Being a guest, CONTAINER, Düsseldorf 2016.
Vordemberge-Gildewart-Stipendium, KIT Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf 2014.
You and We, Diploma Exhibition (Solo) Kunstakademie Düsseldorf 2014.
Panel: Knowlegde, Gallery M29 Cologne (with Rita McBride Class, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf) 2014 You and We, Diploma Kunstakademie Düsseldorf 2014.
Groupeffect NRW Bank Düsseldorf 2013.