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Concept
Etiyé Dimma Poulsen
Summary
Etiyé Dimma Poulsen (born 1968) is a Danish sculptor known for her work in ceramics.
Poulsen, who has exhibited widely in Europe, Africa and North America, lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. Her work is held in numerous museums, including in the collection of the National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC. Born in Ethiopia, she moved at the age of six to Tanzania and then to Kenya with her adoptive parents. They were Danes, and moved the family to Denmark when she was fourteen. There she studied art history in college and taught art in various youth programs. Initially focusing on painting landscapes using oil on canvas, her interest in creating sculpture spurred her move to France at 23 and she began working with clay.
Poulsen's figurative sculptures are often slim silhouettes colored with natural pigments. Her work takes its inspiration from traditional African art and the indigenous art of Oceania, but she emphasizes that her own varied experiences across continents are all important influences. "What really seduces me is the different variations of human features," Poulsen remarks. "The more simple and sober my forms are, the more expressive they seem. If you take a close look at the sculptures, you'll be surprised to find that the expressions on the faces are actually generated merely by a cracked line that traces an eye or a wrinkle....It seems as if exactly through corrosion and fragmentation, the opposite--life--emerges."
Poulsen is most known for creating filiform ceramic sculptures. "Her technique consists of applying a thin layer of clay on an iron mesh to produce, when fired, worn-out looking ‘primitive’ figures. The cracks that occur form an eye or a wrinkle, contributing to the expressions on the faces; thus strong and delicate features are achieved simultaneously." She has employed this technique in the vast majority of her work, and reports that she is deeply connected to the transformative effect of firing. “Fire is a creative element which models my sculptures all in their giving life,” Poulsen says.
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