Denise Lobonț lives and works mainly in Romania. After graduating with a Fine Arts Bachelor’s degree from the National University of Arts in Bucharest (2017), she received a scholarship to complete an internship as a photographer assistant in Paris. In 2020 she attained her MFA in Photography and Dynamic Image at the same Bucharest-based University. Currently she is an artist in residence at the Urban Nation Museum for Contemporary Art in Berlin, where she undertakes an investigative research around the critical reception of Romanian seasonal workers.

Her practice is motivated by a documentarist approach towards gender identity with the aim to prove a redundancy of perpetuated gender norms. Uncovering stereotypes largely still at work today, she provides counter-narratives where established social constructs are being questioned and exposed. In her photography, a special focus is being given on behaviours of “machismo”. Using the female gaze as a critical device, she touches upon this deeply rooted Balkan mindset and undermines it with fresh, contrasting associations. Furthermore, the format of the documentary is used as a tool to reveal the unexpected beauty behind the sacred triviality of the everyday.