STATEMENT

I work with phenomenons of bodily and spatial constriction, recalled from both social dynamics and migraine episodes. I am looking for connections, imagery and figures that can depict and reshape conventional understandings of experiences with constrictive spaces and dealing with these situations. I reflect on overlooked restrictions that humans experience and live with. It is becoming an ongoing research that focuses on tension, stuckness, constriction and endurance but also the processes that can lead toward internal release and relief. I have looked into the transformation processes of molting and metamorphosis, commonly known from arthropods and insects. More specifically, I have looked into the molting processes of scorpions, as well as the processes of moths and butterflies when breaking free from their chrysalis (pupa). In other works, I have worked with animal imagery for setting boundaries, for example the cat’s claw and its ability to set boundaries, by ripping, scratching and standing ground, when necessary.

I have recently been working on a sculpture/performance titled Constricted spaces (hemicranial press molting) for the group show Rietveld Uncut 2025 at Stedelijk Museum. Here, the human body goes through a molting process by molting free from a constrictive exoskeleton, made as a life-size plaster mold, followed by walking out of the institution, which also can be experienced as a constrictive space itself. 

By unfolding the constrictive spaces which bodies feel fixated by, I reflect upon tension and the release of tension, and how this can be visualized and integrated. It is an ongoing investigation of the subtle internal and external sides of the body and the paralyzing obstacles that can lead to inner frustration and transformation.

Mia Kokine Joensen