The painter and photographer Sabine Dehnel was born in Ludwigshafen on the Rhine in 1971. After a sojourn to Amsterdam (1992/93) Sabine Dehnel began to study visual arts and philosophy at the 'Akademie für Bildende Künste' at Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, which she completed in 1999. Until 2000 Sabine Dehnel studied as master student in Mainz.
At the academy Sabine Dehnel was taught by the painter Friedemann Hahn, who fueled her interest in photography. Just as her teacher, Sabine Dehnel uses the technique in order to ask questions regarding conditions and effects of its representativeness and momentousness.
She initially made collages, later Sabine Dehnel was occupied with the enlargement of her own family pictures. Sabine Dehnel deliberately chooses sections with very little content and meaning, in order to weaken autobiographic references. Sabine Dehnel executes such works both as paintings and as photographs. Her works obtain their special charm through elements such as surface blemishes or fuzziness, which are likewise transferred to the enlargement.
Later works by Sabine Dehnel are also characterized by fragmentary features, in paintings and realistic photographs she illustrates legs, necks or bodies. Additionally, Sabine Dehnel works with photographic object installations based on the geometric form of the cube.
Numerous awards and scholarships have accompanied the creation of Sabine Dehnel over the past years. Numerous international solo shows have contributed to her works popularity, among them exhibitions in Barcelona (2008), Paris (2009), Copenhagen (2010) or Albuquerque (2012).
Sabine Dehnel lives and works in Mainz.