In the exhibition Hjemmesteder (Home Places), Amanda Kessaris (DK/USA, 2001) explores home and identity as fluid concepts. She uses a perishable medium called anthotype – a slow photographic process in which she develops images with homemade plant-based emulsions over several months. Through this process, she brings to life both her own memories and those constructed by others through documentation and memory. The plants she uses in the development are both native and non-native species from the places she has called home. They reflect her condition as both an insider and an outsider.

In addition to analog media, Kessaris also works with digital elements such as PNG files and photographs, which merge with graphic craft and the American patchwork tradition. This mix of analog and digital materials creates works that are at the intersection of pixels and fabric, a space where the two media meet and unfold.

The meeting of the digital and the analog allows Kessaris to reflect on a world marked by 'content overload' and nostalgia, where consumption and overproduction often dilute what matters most. Through her materials and motifs, she brings in elements of transience as a commentary on the values that both bind and separate us.

In her works, digital PNG files function as both a blank canvas and a negative space – a place for what has been, may never have been, or may come to fill the space. It is a space where time and belonging are constantly in flux.

Kessaris' works reflect her experience of having many homes, but especially the one she has called home for the longest time – a town in Southern California. It is a place she both loves and misses, but also a place she is ashamed of and has never felt completely safe in. As a Dane in the US and an American in Denmark, she feels divided and carries a sadness about the disasters that befall her homeland, such as natural disasters and social injustice, as well as the constant loss of home that her loved ones have experienced through fires and deportations. Her works portray a fleeting home that encompasses both the past, present and future.

Amanda Kessaris is a Danish/American artist and third-year student at the 4-year program at Aarhus Art Academy. Her works have been exhibited in both Denmark and internationally at, among others, KØN Museum (DK), Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling at Den Frie Udstillingsbygning (DK), Ovenpå CPH (DK), Tinghuset (DK), and Galleri Blunk (NO).

The exhibition is open to all, and there will be a vernissage on April 25 from 3-7 p.m.

Kvart Galleri, Montanagade 45B, 8000 Aarhus C

Vernissage on April 25th 3-6:30 PM

April 26th – May 31st 2025 (Saturdays 12-4 PM)