Damaris Athene (she/her)
b.1992, UK
Painting, fiber, MDF, foam, polyester fibre, foam nuggets, neoprene and acrylic paint
40cm x 28 x 7cm
Damaris Athene graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in 2015 with a BA(Hons) in Painting. She was shortlisted for the Hans Brinker Painting Prize in Amsterdam in 2014, the Clyde & Co. Art Award in 2015, the BEEP Painting Prize in 2018, and La Vienisima’s feminist photography prize in 2021. In 2019 Athene held a solo show, ‘Cheer Up Love’, at Cambridge University. In 2021 Athene held two solo shows, ‘I Wish I Was As Hot As My Memoji’ at TOD Gallery and ‘If Only I Could Be 2D’ at Compact Contemporary, and Athene started 2022 with a solo show ‘All Trussed Up and Nowhere to Go’ at ] G A Z E [ Art Space. Athene founded the blog Private View where she interviews femxle artists.
‘My interdisciplinary practice examines how digital technology is altering the world around us and affecting how we interact with and perceive our bodies. I interrogate the flattening and perfecting of the digital world through an exploration of corporeal abstraction in painting, sculpture, performance, photography, digital collage, and printmaking, often assembling self referential installations.
I take particular interest in female bodies, and how the myriad of appearance altering apps enable the creation of ‘perfect selves’ --- digitising our dysmorphia. Digitally altered selfies now replace the aspirational images of celebrities once taken to plastic surgeons. In my work I cross the boundary between 2D and 3D, digital and physical, my practice feeding itself like the ouroboros and mirroring the constant regurgitation of imagery served on the internet. Does our corporeality become more abject in contrast with digital perfection?’
