Digital photography had lost the magic for me. I began to experiment with the photographic medium again, listening to what initially led me to work with photography. I could see that my background as a textile designer would show me a new path back to more craft-oriented, tactile work. I started with some small textile and photographic experiments and eventually began weaving my prints.
Originally trained in textile design at the Danish Design School in Copenhagen, Wellm shifted her artistic focus when she discovered the world of photography. Recently, she has begun blending these two disciplines, combining photography and weaving to explore the tactile qualities of two-dimensional images. By layering color, contrast, and depth, she transforms her pieces into multi-sensory experiences.
Wellm’s artistic process is intricate and multifaceted. The selection of the right motif is often the most time-consuming part of her work. After choosing an image, she scans and digitally edits it before printing. To evoke the feel of old film reels, she adds color to the image. Drawing on her textile background, she then cuts the image into thin strips, weaving them into threads while incorporating knots and loose strands. This method allows her to create dynamic compositions rich in texture and depth.
Her work emphasizes the value of tangible creation in a digital age. Weaving, with its physical resistance, holds particular meaning for her in a world dominated by screens.
Themes of time, memory, and narrative construction run throughout Wellm’s work. She often draws from an archive of found imagery, such as old family albums and historical movie stills, weaving personal dramas with the collective history and trauma of modern Europe. Through collage and montage, Wellm transforms familiar fragments of reality into multilayered, poetic spaces. These spaces merge fiction with fact, stagnation with movement, and the internal with the external, creating moments that remain open to interpretation. They reflect our ongoing quest for meaning—both within ourselves and in our relationship to the world, between past and present.
She is also inspired by artists like Gerhard Richter, Sophie Calle, and filmmakers like Krzysztof Kieślowski and Pina Bausch.
Wellm’s work has been widely exhibited, and she is represented in numerous prestigious collections, including:
Susanne Wellm lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark
Taste Contemporary
Monique Deul Consultancy
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