Larissa Esvelt

textiel , Soft sculptures , sculptuur , schrijven , residency , publieke ruimte , keramiek , Geschiedenis , Gender , Figuratief , Diaspora , Artistiek onderzoek

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My artistic practice revolves around approaching a certain state of unease relating to the complex ways identities, such as cultural heritage and femininity overlap with fantasies, longings and feelings of belonging. Where sculptures operate in a space of in-between, and the fantastical, the realistic and perceived join hands in a chaotic union. Sculpture behave like actors; They appear and reappear in varying figurations and assemblages, and together form installations where the clashes in materiality and tone become a reflection of the identity uncertainties they themselves embody.

**In the Shadow of a Bare Branch, 2026** - Single channel video, audio and installation, 170 x 122 x 80 cm Paper-mache, costume. make-up, acrylics, oil paint, branches, synthetic hair, faux-fur, paper Created for the exhibition ''Seeking Wood'' at Kunstpodium T in Tilburg, ''In the Shadow of A Bare Branch'' is an installment of a series of four performative installations and films collaboratively created with Floyd Sleusinger, Guus Holtman and William Ludwig Lutgens. The majority of the footage for the films was shot collaboratively and turned by each artist into a different edit, focussing on each of our characters created for the project. What united these character was a search for a mysterious figure named ''wood''. My installment, focussing on a bleu lady, seemingly lost in the woods and in an amnesic cycle of births and rebirths. titled ''In the Shadow of A Bare Branch'', the film could be viewed from under a sculpture’s skirt. A narration could be heard from the figure’s head, reminiscing the events of the film in an equally unintelligible loop.

Technosol, 2026 (Non-temporal collective in collaboration with Asrafun Nahar Ruhin) — **Technosol, 2026 ( as Non-temporal together with Asrafun Nahar Ruhin)** - Technosol is a lecture-performance first presented during the NADD Archive day 2026 at the Nieuwe Instituut under the name Non-Temporal Collective. Non-Temporal collective is a collective consisiting of me and Asrafun Nahar Ruhin and together we hope to explore questions about heritge, material history, artefacts and labour. During the performance we engage with the sedimentary layer of discarded clay pipes as an (un)intentional archive. Moving away from the “traditional” archive, we take our inspiration from the concept of “technosol”; the layer of soil impacted by human activity, (over) production and consumption. By activating the archive through gesture and text, we question which knowledge, memories, or other immaterialities are preserved or forgotten in the process of preservation. During this performance, text is accompanied by bodily gestures imitating the craft of pipe-making. We talk about the abundance of clay pipes found in the soil of the Netherlands as a colonial object. The technosol holds not just the physical remnant of an industry, but as an archive (un)intentionally captures the dawn of an era where objects become expendable and “craft’’ becomes industrialised. In this sense, the “technosol’’ does not just archive the material(waste/trace) but a process which is still ongoing today. By placing an emphasis on gesture, we are trying to access this “technosol” archive through the immaterial; to (re)think value in the face of devalued labour and look again at those things the archive only reveals on closer inspection.

**Telltale Tails, 2025** - Telltale Tails - 2025 , Sculpture/installation, 250 x 130 x 220 cm Ceramics, synthetic hair, jacquard woven fabric, faux-fur, velvet , metal, wood, epoxy, acrylics. Telltale Tails is a Sculpture installation made in response to Paula Rego’s print ‘‘three blind mice’’ in the Vicoria and Albert museum archive. as part of the exhibition ''On the shoulders of giants'' focussing on underrated artists whose work resides mostly in the archives instead of being on display. The exhibition took place at Saatchi Gallery, 2025, London

**With snaking limbs outstretched, 2025** - Site specific installation. 400 x 350 x 280 cm Ceramics, plaster, wood, jaquard woven fabric, grey sand, glue, textile, metal, (synthetic) hair ''The figures remain quiet. They speak through the inclinations of their sagging bodies. Stretching limbs curl around fickle sricks and pillars alike. Although we're winding down, rooting is beside the point. Instead the staircase becomes the place for a maladapted merging between two realities. To satisfy a sculptural obsession, taking and losing shape, amongst the ornaments of my nostalgic desire. Squeezed, i am graceful and gushing from the gaps erupts a murmur of contention''

Seeking Wood A/M #1

Datum: 19-02-2026 t/m 08-03-2026

Locatie: Kunstpodium T

In samenwerking met: Floyd Schleußinger, Guus Holtman, William Ludwig Lutgens

For the exhibition "Seeking Wood," William Ludwig Lutgens and Apprentices Larissa Esvelt, Floyd Schleußinger, and Guus Holtman have assembled a four-part video work. The work attempts to compose, articulate, and speculate on "Wood," the missing fifth artist of the group. This specter confronts each artist's practice and research, manifesting as a character, an object, or a metaphor, known through illusory alter egos and symbolic objects.

https://kunstpodium-t.com/agenda/a-m-1-2

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