Endosisters

I created Endosisters, photographing 50 people with endometriosis through honest portraits and unretouched abdomen close ups. The project celebrates strength, resilience and healing, a story of getting back up again and again, together.

As a photographer and a person living with endometriosis myself, I created ENDOSCHWESTERN (Endosisters) to make visible a disease that remains largely misunderstood, both within the healthcare system and in society.

Endometriosis affects around 10–15% of women and people born with an uterus. Around 190 million people worldwide live with the disease, including approximately 2 million in Germany. Yet it takes an average of 7 to 10 years to receive a diagnosis. During this time, many experience severe pain, uncertainty and the feeling that their symptoms are not being taken seriously. This is often described as “medical gaslighting”.

The consequences can be profound. Endometriosis can affect fertility, organs and quality of life, while years of being told that everything is normal can deeply affect a person’s sense of self.

ENDOSCHWESTERN deliberately moves away from images of pain and vulnerability. Instead, the project focuses on strength, resilience, healing and grace. It is about getting back up again and again, about living with a chronic disease without allowing it to define who we are.

I photographed 50 people affected by endometriosis, creating a portrait and an unretouched close-up of each person’s abdomen. The photographs reveal both individuality and a shared experience. They are honest, intimate and powerful without turning suffering into spectacle.

One participant told me: “To me, this feels like a form of therapy. To find something positive in all of this, like you do. I’m still a long way from being able to do that.”

This sentence captures what lies at the heart of the project. ENDOSCHWESTERN is not only about visibility. It is also about empowerment and community. The project aims to give something back to those who took part: the feeling of being seen, of not being alone, and of recognising strength in themselves and in one another.

Through photography, I want to contribute to a different image of endometriosis: one that acknowledges the reality of the disease without reducing those affected to their pain.

I want to make visible the immense strength of us Endosisters, so that future generations will no longer have to face such long and lonely journeys before being seen, understood and taken seriously.