Description
ARTIST STATEMENT
I make performance-based photographic and film series and installations inspired by things that irritate, bewilder, or humble me. My work is often born of resistance. It starts with an impulsive act, then other iterations form behind it—sometimes over many years. In the same way that many writers write to understand what they think, I use my body to feel my way through to meaning. Humor, absurdity, and playful energy help me to hold heavy subjects more lightly. I aim to bring light to the dark shadows in the hopes of creating more safe places for myself and others.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Elizabeth Hansen is an American artist living in Switzerland. Her multi-disciplinary work, incorporating performance, installation, video, sculpture, and photography, is born of resistance and uses humor and play to provoke serious contemplation of the status quo.
Elizabeth Hansen has an MFA from the School of Visual Arts (NYC) and a BA in Economics and Art History from the University of Michigan. Her work has been exhibited internationally in New York, Belgium, Switzerland, and France, and is in private collections in Europe and the United States.
Current projects include a 3rd iteration of an initial 16 self-portrait series begun 30 years ago about the construction of female identity, an annual ongoing springtime baby lamb-hugging ritual which recently marked 24 years, and protest works about algorithmic exploitation and threats to liberty and democracy in the world.
© Elizabeth Hansen