Spyros Rennt’s tender portrait of Berlin’s queer scene

Intertwined — In the Greek photographer’s fourth photobook, he lays out spreads of togetherness among his friends and the German capital’s LGBTQ+ party scene.

Spyros Rennt first moved to Berlin in 2011. He had grown up in Athens, then moved to San Francisco and Munich before settling on the German capital. In a city of cheap rent, a vibrant creative community, and by-most-accounts the best LGBTQ+ nightlife in the world, he soon picked up a camera and started capturing the world around him.

“I found myself in Berlin at kind of a dead end,” he recalls. “I was surrounded by interesting people and going out a lot – so I shyly started to document the things around me. I’m a queer person and I was going out a lot and had my camera with me, so it was a natural thing.”

As one thing led to another, and before long, Rennt found that he’d become something of an in-demand chronicler of the city’s queer nightlife. He’d shoot at parties organised by those in the scene, while also taking portraits of his friends at the pres, the afters, and beyond the all-night long sessions.

A tattooed individual with their eyes closed, holding a can or spray bottle near their mouth in a dark setting.

A person with green hair and tattoos, wearing a red hat, shown in a shadowy setting.

His latest photobook, Intertwined, focuses on his work made in the post-pandemic years, mostly between 2021 and 2024. While nightlife features among its pages, and the characters featured are mostly drawn from his circle of friends and the city’s queer party scene, the photographs turn the focus away from the thumping kickdrums of the dancefloor.

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Intertwined makes for a tender portrait of LGBTQ+ intimacy. From gentle embraces and tender kisses to quieter portraits taken inside bedrooms, the photographs explore connection and romance that transcends the immediately lustful. “My work used to be more sexual,” he explains. “I wouldn’t say that I’m moving away from that, but I think that I’m more drawn to a more poetic approach – with this book is more of a moody, melancholic vibe and I’m fascinated by the documentation of relationships and closeness.”

That connection manifests in physical and more abstract senses in the photographs. Touch is a recurring motif, but equally powerful are the soft poses and into-the-lens stares. “The name Intertwined is a reference to people’s destinies being bound together, in the way that the queer chosen family works,” Rennt explains. “When I shoot bodies, I like the way that they come together and create shapes and forms that become one.”

Image of a shirtless man with dreadlocks, sitting on a sofa and looking at the camera.

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A person lying on a bed, wearing dark lingerie and looking away from the camera.

Yet underlying throughout the pictures is a sense of nostalgic longing and change. The Berlin of cheap rent and radical living has been eroded in recent times, as inflation has seen its demographics and lifestyles shift. In 2023 The Guardian reported that median asking rents had jumped by 21.2%.

“People still go out, and still go hard,” Rennt says. “But overall, things are getting a bit more basic. Berlin is no longer a city of misfits, and the artists who can work one bar job two days a week and still get by – this is not sustainable anymore. So you’ve got to have a job and lead a nine-to-five lifestyle, and if you lead a nine-to-five lifestyle, you’re probably not going to be a freak.”

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For Rennt, the pictures capture a time, a place, and a scene that looks unlikely to stick around forever. “I’m very connected to Intertwined, because the images are of people who are close to me,” he explains. “It’s also a reflection of my environment – the people who inspire me and people I look up to, so it’s dear to me.”