Afra Eisma at Untitled Art, Miami Beach
The international breakthrough of the artist Afra Eisma, born in The Hague (1993, NL), continues this winter with a solo exhibition at the Wälnö Aaltonen Museum, FI, and her participation with No Man’s Art Gallery in the prestigious Untitled Art Fair in Miami Beach, USA. These presentations follow a busy year for Eisma, during which her immersive textile and ceramic installations garnered attention from Delhi to Barcelona.
With her immersive installations of textiles and ceramics, Afra Eisma brings magical worlds to life, where emotion serves as a source of strength and trauma acts as a catalyst for self empowerment and change. The vibrant and colorful nature of Eisma's installations is a strategy to address sensitive issues and illuminate the darker sides of personal experiences. Her tactile worlds, filled with (extraterrestrial) beings and colorful figures, exude playfulness and tell numerous interwoven stories. Eisma describes her rich imagination as a politically charged terrain; a universal space for gathering, exchange, and dialogue.
This year, Eisma achieved international recognition; the space for vulnerability, tactility, and gathering resonated with visitors worldwide. The installation "poke press squeeze clasp" traveled after a two-year presentation at the Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam to the Dhaka Art Summit in Bangladesh, a highly regarded international art platform. Meanwhile, Eisma worked in her studio on "splashdown tender" at The Tetley in Leeds, her first institutional solo exhibition in the United Kingdom, and on a group exhibition at the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona. The final destination of "poke press squeeze clasp" was the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in Delhi, renowned as one of Southeast Asia's premier contemporary art museums. The museum made the decision to add the installation to its esteemed collection.
No Man’s Art Gallery looks forward to its debut participation in the 12th edition of UNTITLED Art, Miami Beach 2023, featuring entirely new work by the artist. In a solo booth, the gallery showcases large-scale textile works in dialogue with textile drawings, the latter considered by Eisma as her most intimate works to date. Shortly thereafter, Eisma's solo exhibition "Hop to Hope" opens at the Wälnö Aaltonen Museum (FI). Both presentations highlight togetherness, vulnerability, and hope, giving voice to the feminine experience.
Closer to home, the exhibition "suckle and squeeze," curated by Eisma, is underway. It's a lively group exhibition with fellow artists where she centralizes the love and power of the collective. In this exhibition, Eisma's installation "Warrior Garments" (2023) is on display— silky and consciously feminine princess dresses adorned with political and powerful slogans. Once again, a soft and feminine aesthetic is deliberately employed to convey a larger message. The exhibition is open until December 23, 2023, at No Man’s Art Gallery in Amsterdam.
22.11 – 23.12 2023: suckle and squeeze, No Man’s Art Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
06.12 – 10.12 2023: UNTITLED art Miami, VS, with No Man’s Art Gallery (Special thanks to the Mondrian Fund)
15.12 – Lente 2024: Hop to Hope, Wälnö Aaltonen Museum, FI
About No Man’s Art Gallery
No Man's Art Gallery has an international exhibition program with a special focus on emerging contemporary art. The gallery maintains two permanent spaces in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and annually opens temporary pop-up galleries in other countries, fostering strong cultural ties with the artistic communities where the gallery's artists are rooted.
Recent destinations of the international program include Mexico City, Tehran, Shanghai, Mumbai, Cape Town, and various European cities.
No Man's Art Gallery is led by Lih-Lan Wong and Emmelie Koster, representing eight emerging and mid-career artists.