VIDEO: Astrid Kruse Jensen-Trying To Understand What Has Happened

Enter the world of Danish photographer Astrid Kruse Jensen whose fascinating images float between reality and memory. “Contrasts, duality, beauty, pain. There is no darkness without light. Nothing is visible without something being invisible. That fascinates me, and I work very deliberately with it.”

In this incredibly personal portrait, Astrid Kruse Jensen speaks openly about tragic events that have influenced and formed her work and practice in recent years. “Photography is always a balance between darkness and light. Where do you place the shadow? What do you overexpose? Which parts do you burn out?”

“I’ve been looking for the same things in my work and life after losing my husband three and a half years ago. I’ve sought a place where we could start over, a new chapter, but also find some resonance in the world. This feeling of everything coming together.”

Astrid Kruse Jensen was born in Aarhus, Denmark, in 1975 and lived as a child in Tanzania for several years. She studied at The Gerrit Rietveld Académie in the Netherlands and continued her studies at The Glasgow School of Art, where she graduated in 2002. Since then, she has been living in Denmark. She has exhibited widely and abroad, including solo exhibitions in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Iceland, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, The Netherlands, and the UK.

Astrid Kruse Jensen’s works can be found in international collections, including ARoS Aarhus Art Museum (DK), The National Photography Museum (DK), Museet for Fotokunst (DK), Kunstmuseet Brundlund Slot (DK), Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum, The Danish Arts Foundation, Ny Carlsberg Fondet (DK), Hafnarborg Institute of Culture and Fine Art (IS), Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena (I), Artotheque de Caen (F), The John Kobal Foundation (UK), Manchester City Gallery (UK), The George Eastman House (USA) and Moderna Museet in Stockholm (SE).
She has received prizes such as Arkens Rejselegat, Palle Fogtdal Photography Prize, The Niels Wessel Bagge’s Foundation for the Arts Award, and the Anne Marie Telmányi’s Honours Award for female artists.

 

Astrid Kruse Jensen was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner on several occasions during spring 2023. The interviews took place at her studio on Refshaleøen in Copenhagen and Malergården, Museum Vestsjælland, Denmark. In May 2023, she opened the exhibition “Traces of Resonance” at Odsherreds Kunstmuseum, showing works included in this film. Louisiana Channel would like to thank its colleagues at Museum Vestsjælland for their cooperation. Camera: Simon Weyhe, Edited by: Helle Pagter, Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner, © Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2023, Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling