KNMA presents a series of public talks, in conjunction to our ongoing exhibition Very Small Feelings. The first talk of this series titled ‘Poke Press Squeeze Clasp’ by Afra Eisma. The artist will speak on amplifying voices, brave spaces and feminist ears through her practice of making soft sculptures and weaving different worlds.

Using craft techniques in novel ways, Afra Eisma explores and manifests personal stories through immersive and intimate installations made of textiles, sculptures, ceramics, papier-maché and sound. Afra Eisma’s work focuses on emotions as an inner source of strength. What’s important to her is to seek ways in which trauma can be a tool of power and of change. The seemingly bright and colourful installations are a strategy to look at sensitive issues, or to look at darker corners of personal experiences and through seduction and accessibility move the viewer to engage with the subjects at play. Recently Eisma’s focuses on creating immersive installations in which the viewer has an active role. The sanctuary becomes an extension of the body. Generosity as a form of resistance.

After Eisma’s first institutional solo exhibition in 1646 (the Hague, NL) she was invited to make a commissioned installation for Kunstinstuut Melly in Rotterdam. Ever since, Eisma has been invited to international institutes and projects such as Centro Internacional das Artes José de Guimarães (PT), Fundació Joan Miró (ES), the Dhaka Art Summit 2023 (BD), Textile Museum Tilburg (NL), Fries Museum (NL) and has upcoming exhibitions at The Tetley Leeds (UK) and Wälnö Aaltosen Museo, Finland. Afra Eisma lives and works in Den Haag, the Netherlands.