Biography

patricia kaersenhout is an artist who examines hidden and forgotten stories, delving into ignored histories of the African diaspora and its movements around the globe. In her investigations into Dutch colonialism and the legacy of slavery, the artist focuses on her relation to identity, feminism and contemporary issues facing African migrants today. Operating with a desire to visualise the unseen, she primarily selects Black thinkers, artists, poets and activists, particularly women whose work has been overlooked, as the subjects of her work. To counter the passive consumption of art, kaersenhout’s practice invites audience participation and regularly involves the communal production of the artwork itself, thus fostering a collaborative dialogue. In the same vein, her creations are left open-ended to maintain the possibility of their revival and continuation in new forms.

Among her solo exhibitions are Relinking: patricia kaersenhout, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (2022); The Third Dimension, CBK Zuidoost, Amsterdam (2022); What a Piece of Work is Man, Het HEM, Zaandam, the Netherlands (2021); Who is she?, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, the Netherlands (2021); Objects of Love and Desire, Wilfried Lentz Rotterdam (2019); and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Too?, De Appel, Amsterdam (2019).

She has participated in the group exhibitions FLOWERS FOREVER, Kunsthalle Munich, Munich (2023); Hurting and Healing: Let’s Imagine a Different Heritage, Tensta konsthall, Stockholm (2022); Delinking and Relinking in the Van Abbemuseum Collection, Van Abbemuseum (2021); Is it possible to be a revolutionary and like flowers?, NEST, The Hague (2021); THE FACULTY OF SENSING, S A V V Y Contemporary, Berlin (2020); SAY IT LOUD, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, the Netherlands (2020); The Visual Life of Social Affliction, National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau (2019); Manifesta 12, Palermo, Italy (2018); Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp, Ogden Museum, New Orleans, USA (2017); and the Dakar Biennale (2013) .

Her works are in the collections of ABN Amro; PvdA-fractie, The Hague; Belastingdienst Amsterdam; CBK Zuidoost; Museum of Modern Art Arnhem; Van Abbemuseum; AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Centraal Musuem, Utrecht; Frans Hals Museum; European Investment Bank, Luxembourg; The Bonnefanten museum, Maastricht and TextielMuseum, Tilburg, the Netherlands.

She received a BA from Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam (1998), and pursued a post-academic fellowship at BAK, Utrecht (2018–2019). Born in 1966 in Den Helder, the Netherlands, Kaersenhout currently lives and works in Amsterdam.

SAF participation:
Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023)


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