Lena Hetzel

Lives and works in Hamburg, Germany

Artist statement

I am preoccupied with the major themes of the Anthropocene—protectionism, war, torture, flight, and displacement—as well as seemingly mundane things such as ground fighting, baby memes, or making a family. In front of the canvas, I am not merely a poetic terrorist. I am a gravedigger, sometimes an intoxicated assassin, a dervish dancing in a trance (hal in Persian) from a Zoroastrian village in central Iran, a Siberian shaman weaving Afghan war rugs while whispering long-forgotten poems from the afterlife in order to enter into dialogue with my ancestors.

Artwork