Teona Gogichaishvili is a native Georgian and has lived in Germany for 26 years. Following her studies in German language and literature she studied photography in Cologne and at the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld and graduated with a Master of Arts in photography and design. Ms Gogichaishvili has been a photographer and lecturer at various universities and institutions since 2006.

Since 2011, Ms Gogichaishvili has been the co-organizer of the international photo festival KOLGA TBILISI PHOTO in Tbilisi, Georgia, which is now widely recognized in Europe.

She has curated various exhibitions and projects for KOLGA including "Black Panther Party" by American photographer Stephen Shames, "Our Town, a Closer look at the United States today" by Swiss photographer Michael von Graffenried, "Undaunted - Four Women in Kabul - their Struggles and Dreams” by Afghan photographer and multimedia journalist Lela Ahmadzai.

In 2018, Ms. Gogichaishvili, together with Antonia Loick/V8 and Inga Schneider/Photoscene Cologne, founded PURPUR COLLECTIVE. The collective has declared as its goal to highlight women in photography. In this context, the film "How to be/see a Woman", with works by the 12 international female artist recently produced. Among the artists are represented international greats such as Pixy Liao (China/USA), Lebohang Kganye (ZA), Anna Ehrenstein (Albania/Germany). The film has already been shown in several photo festivals in Europe and discussed in accompanying talks.

Ms. Gogichaishvili is also a portfolio reviewer, involved in various photo festivals, including Houston Fotofest, Hamburg Portfolio, Arles, Paris, Visa pour l'image/Perpignan.

Since 2022, Ms. Gogichaishvili has been a member of the Board of Directors, Section Imagery, of the DGPh - German Society of Photography.

Ms. Gogichaishvili researches on the topics: Origin, Identity, Biographical Work and Women in Art and Photography. For this she uses, among other things, the medium of video, with which she tells visual narratives.

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