My work primarily explores the intersection between haute couture and painting. My strong interest in both fields is closely connected to my background, which is shaped by an ambivalent relationship with the working class. Artistic knowledge has existed within my family for generations, yet the opportunities to develop this knowledge and the talent associated with it were severely limited by the consequences of the Second World War. My grandmother was a couture designer, and my mother has painted for as long as I can remember. I am the first generation in my family to have had the opportunity, through studying at an art academy, to develop an autonomous and independent artistic position.

My autobiographical background gives rise to questions about society as a construct. I am particularly interested in moments of instability and contradiction that become especially apparent to me as someone from a working-class background the more I engage with the bourgeoisie, refinement, and notions of social elevation. The pursuit of education and the desire to reconnect with what I perceive as my family’s cultural and artistic legacy are central forces behind my drive to break away from the working class, as well as my resulting interest in art and couture.

While there are clear differences between these two fields, there are also fundamental themes that, for me, distinctly overlap. In my work, both areas seem to become mutually dependent through my own position, much like proximity and distance, identity and anonymity—central themes that are fundamental to both haute couture and the visual arts and that, strangely, are more closely intertwined than one might initially assume.

At present, I am particularly focused on the subject of beauty—as a central yet simultaneously ambivalent and often taboo field of inquiry. Between ideals, surface, and meaning, a space of tension emerges that operates within both haute couture and art and continues to manifest itself in inherited images, conventions, and expectations.

An essential element of my work is the use of humour and subtle irony, informed, among other things, by influences from contemporary couture. This approach, however, is not intended merely as a form of exaggeration or provocation; rather, it functions as a means of making existing structures visible. Instead of adopting a straightforward judgement, I am interested, similarly to Anne Imhof, in revealing conditions, contradictions, and forms of staging—particularly where seriousness itself becomes a construct.

The connection to conceptual art becomes apparent in a practice that is less concerned with passing judgement than with exposing what is already there, thereby raising questions about perception, value, and credibility.