Kirsten Justesen, Klassenkampen
1976, photograph, taken at Rikke Diemer’s studio
Kirsten Justesen


Klassenkampen
1976, photograph, taken at Rikke Diemer’s studio

Ice Wings #1 (Flying Images)
1980-1982, photograph

Lunch (Housewife Pictures)
1975, photograph

In the 1960s, Kirsten Justesen (*1943, Denmark) began using her own body as a material and tool, most prominently in her photographic works, where image, object and performance stand in close relation to each other. For Sculpture #2 (1968), she put the photograph of a caged woman in an open cardboard box, as if she were trapped inside. The role of women in the domestic context is the subject of Forestillinger & Besværgelse (Imaginations & Conjurations, 1973), a photographic sequence showing a naked woman handling small cakes and trying to squeeze milk from her breast. In Lunch (1975), a nude woman sits in a shopping cart. Three years later, Justesen became more interested in a wider political framework. In one work, she can be seen sitting in a kitchen with children behind her, reading a large drawing with the word Klassekampen (Class Struggle) (1977). In 1990, she staged a performance on the beach as a nude mermaid vacuum cleaning (Mer Maid / Hav Frue, 1990). Since 1980, her works often incorporate ice as a material.

artist's website: www.kirstenjustesen.com

Courtesy Kirsten Justesen