INGELHEIM AM RHEIN.- The Kunstforum Ingelheim has opened its doors to “Curiosity, Courage and Adventure: Women Photographers on the Road,” a sweeping survey of female lens-makers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland whose work spans more than a century of travel photography. On view through July 13, the exhibition brings together 21 photographers and over 180 black-and-white and color images that chronicle journeys to some thirty countries, from the 1920s to the present day.

The first section of the show focuses on commissioned assignments, beginning in 1929, when professionally trained women began traveling alone under often arduous conditions to fulfill editorial requests. Their photographs document urban centers, rural landscapes and the rhythms of everyday life, portraying local labor, tradition and the uneasy coexistence of modernity and heritage. These early assignments reveal how women photographers claimed both creative autonomy and financial independence at a time when travel was still largely the preserve of the privileged few.

In the second gallery, six photographers turn their lenses to the archaeology of human history and sites under threat. Some accompanied excavations and scientific expeditions, while others recorded cultural landmarks endangered by war or climate change. Their images serve as both artistic investigations and urgent historical records, capturing cities in transition and heritage sites on the brink of disappearance.

The final section celebrates seven photographers who pursued long-term, self-directed projects across continents. From Franziska Stünkel’s play of reflections in urban storefronts to Anne Schönharting’s studies of hybrid city-nature landscapes in Hong Kong and Elisabeth Neudörfl’s documentation of democracy movements and pandemic life, these series demonstrate how contemporary women continue to expand the boundaries of photographic storytelling.

Featuring pioneers such as Alice Schalek, Inge Morath, Barbara Klemm and Ré Soupault—many of whom received awards in their lifetimes and have since been recognized as landmarks in twentieth-century photography—the exhibition highlights both well-known and newly rediscovered figures. “Curiosity, Courage and Adventure” not only traces the evolution of street-to-studio practice but also underscores how these women transformed photography into a vehicle for personal expression, social engagement and cultural preservation. The show runs from May 4 to July 13 at the Kunstforum Ingelheim in the historic Altes Rathaus; a press preview is scheduled for April 30 at 11 a.m. Trains run regularly from Frankfurt (45 minutes) and Mainz (15 minutes).