by Olivia Noss // Sept. 9, 2025
The Schwules Museum’s latest show ‘Burning down the Patriarchy. The Berlin women and lesbians’ scene photographed by Petra Gall,’ showcases the works of a photographer who bore witness to an invigorating period in history, both in Berlin and the world at large. The exhibition offers an expansive selection from her archive that merges both the personal and the political.
Petra Gall: ‘Walpurgisnacht Demonstration / Walpurgis Night Demonstration West-Berlin, 30.04.1983’ // Courtesy of Petra Gall and Schwules Museum Berlin
During the 1970s and into the 1990s, women banded together to fight for reproductive autonomy, safety against queer and gendered violence, as well as sexual liberation; all the while reckoning with what it meant to be liberated within a system that categorically oppressed them. Petra Gall deftly chronicled a wide range of events organized by women in Berlin during this period and also dedicated a large portion of her time to capturing nightlife in women-run spaces. One of her most famous images titled ‘Party Night of the Bad Cunts’ depicts two butch women embracing at the historically renowned SO36 venue, a queer-friendly club in Kreuzberg.
Petra Gall: ‘Nacht der bösen Mösen’ / Party ‘Night of the bad cunts’ at SO36, Berlin, 04.06.1993 // Courtesy of Petra Gall and Schwules Museum Berlin
She also travelled to other parts of Germany, as shown in her image ‘Innocence and Ecstasy,’ a performance art piece she captured in Cologne. The image displays a woman in leather lingerie, bound in black netting and bent invitingly towards the camera. This photo made up part of an event called ‘Secret Minds,’ which entailed a weekend of erotic performance art pieces created by women in the winter of 1986.
During this time, sexual liberation became a primary focal point for women globally. The so-called “Sex Wars” was a set of debates by feminists that called into question the definition of sex positivity. Many questioned whether women could enjoy sexual acts—such as penetration or BDSM—without it perpetuating patriarchal forms of violence. A highly divisive topic, Gall’s response fell under the umbrella of women who considered these forms of sexual expression liberating, so long as they were deemed consensual. With that, she partook in nude parties, documenting Annie Sprinkle’s pornographic education performance, where she captured Sprinkle playfully baring her breasts above the laughing heads of two other women, presumably in front of a live audience. Throwing their own parties and musical performances, women at the time were able to set the terms for how they were treated within their community and how they showed up sexually in erotic spaces.
Petra Gall: Performance ‘Annie Sprinkle’s Sex Kitchen,’ 17.07.1991, UFA-Fabrik, Berlin // Courtesy of the artist
Almost every year for 11 years, Gall also documented the lively demonstrations on Walpurgis Night on the 30th of April. Walpurgis Night originated from the persecution of women under the accusation that they engaged in witchcraft. Women across West Berlin reclaimed this holiday in the late 70s to bring attention to violence against women throughout history. The holiday has been celebrated by women since, with Gall was an active participant as well as chronicler of these joyful protests. During this evening, women dressed in witch costumes, celebrating their independence and rejecting societal beauty standards imposed upon them throughout history and in the present day.
Petra Gall: ‘Walpurgisnacht Demonstration / Walpurgis Night Demonstration West-Berlin, 30.04.1989,’ // Courtesy of Petra Gall and Schwules Museum Berlin
Meanwhile, there was a pushback in the 70s by women in West Berlin in reaction to the male-dominated art world. Women artists began curating exhibitions of their own and took it upon themselves to produce works without reliance on men. Gall captured regulars and artists at Pelze—a notable cultural center for women at the time. Pelze and other women-run art spaces, such as Andere Zeichen, served as galleries that became instrumental to the artistic exploration of women artists. In doing so, they worked together to disrupt the status quo of the commercial art market.
The formation of these spaces extended beyond artistic ones. Women not only curated art openings, but also hosted sites of intellectual exchange. Affirmation of feminist identity and collective feminist experience became primary themes for these meet-ups. In turn, feeling the pressure, educational institutions across Berlin began hiring more women within their faculties and gender studies became established as a field of study at the beginning of the 1980s.
Petra Gall: ‘Visitors of an exhibiton at Pelze. Multimedia Potsdamer Str. 139, Berlin,’ 1991 // Courtesy of Petra Gall and Schwules Museum Berlin
Petra Gall, more than an image-maker, was an active participant in enacting change for women in Germany. Uniquely so, as her archive offers us a window into a history that she both lived through and helped construct. The spaces she frequented were sites of disruption that laid the groundwork for community organizing today—sites of collaboration, flirtation, frustration and celebration for further generations to come. Her images are bold, emphatic expressions of women’s desires: their joys, their pleasures, their fantasies and their visions for the future. If her photographs provide a glimpse into a culture shifting in real time, they also serve as a reminder of all the work that still needs to be done, intersectionally and otherwise. Gall’s work stokes what one would hope to be an everlasting fire against patriarchal oppression, and ignites a desire to take part in a collective ideal for the future, whatever form that may take.
Exhibition Info
Schwules Museum
‘Burning down the Patriarchy. The Berlin women and lesbians’ scene photographed by Petra Gall’
Exhibition: July 4, 2025–Feb. 23, 2026
schwulesmuseum.de
Lützowstraße 73, 10785 Berlin, click here for map
