Duration of the relationship: 5 years
Location: Berlin

I could not take any more than five years of a love-hate relationship. One night I left my room and did not come back until the next morning when I found it completely destroyed, sprayed all over with polyurethane foam. A total chaos. My favourite mannequin had no choice but to believe it.

Duration of the relationship: 7.5 years  
Location: Cologne   

I met G. on a carnival Saturday. He suddenly appeared in front of me amongst the crowd wearing a self-made Superman costume. I asked him if the outfit also reflected what was on the inside. He told me to give him a try. 

We did try. For 7.5 years. In the end, he realized that I had actually never been his type (I was and am a pink Flamingo). About 3 years into our relationship I picked up oral herpes from him. We would laugh about it whenever the infection broke out again. 

One evening after the break-up we were standing with a group of people and I couldn’t help pointing at the herpes on my lip and saying to him in front of the others, ‘That’s the only thing of yours that I’ve kept.’ What I actually thought was: ‘That is the only thing of you that has remained with me.’ Every year, just recently on carnival Saturday, I treat fresh herpes blisters with this cream. When I do, I think of Georg and pensively stroke my lips.

Duration of the relationship: 9 years  
Location: Chatte, France

After nine years of a truly strong love, my relationship with my girlfriend ended.

For my following birthday she gave me a little terracotta statue that she herself had made, representing a woman waiting. She asked me to send her a picture of the place that I chose to put the statue, but I have never contacted her again. 

After the breakup, I spent two years on a very small and isolated island next to Antarctica on a scientific posting. I tried hard to find a cave to leave the statue in, a place where nobody could never find it, but I went back for it every single time. Too hard to keep it with me and even harder to leave it forgotten. And so, the statue has remained hidden in a secret corner of my house, which is not what I want for this object. I would be proud and find comfort if, contrary to what I first thought, people could see this statuette and learn her story. Also, I could finally send a nice photograph to her creator.

Duration of the relationship: 18 May 2008 – 27 December 2011
Location: Mexico City, Mexico

She had been my psychologist for 3 and a half years when she told me she wouldn’t treat me anymore. Six months later, she looked me up and we started dating.

We lived together for a year and a half. She even gave me this pendant to show that our relationship represented a marriage.

Our relationship ended because she never managed to come out of the closet. I was 22 and she 36 when we broke up. She now lives with a man and says that she could never accept being gay.