She perceives and engages with her surroundings in ways that later shape her approach to abstract painting. Taking inspiration from everyday situations and encounters with the material world around her, Amanda Ziemele creates work that transforms these observations into spatial experiences.

In this interview, Amanda Ziemele reflects on how to understand abstract art as a dynamic interplay between material, perception, and everyday experience. “I would say it’s something relational. It always has a relation to something in real life, in everyday life,” she explains.

Amanda Ziemele describes herself as a painter, though her art often goes beyond the traditional boundaries of painting, integrating elements of installation and exploring the relationship between space and form – as well as the interaction between the viewer and the work.

“Being there and spending time with the works and just giving a chance to get to know them, those common moments that you shared together, i think they’re really worth it,” Amanda Ziemele concludes.

Amanda Ziemele (b. 1990 in Riga, Latvia) is a contemporary artist known for her innovative and exploratory approach to painting. She earned her BA in Arts from the Painting Department at the Art Academy of Latvia. She completed her diploma studies in the Interdisciplinary Painting Study Programme at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.

Ziemele’s work has been widely recognized and celebrated. Her work is featured in various collections, including the Latvian National Museum of Art, the VV Foundation, and the Zuzāns Collection. In 2021, she won the Purvītis Prize for her solo exhibition “Quantum Hair Implants.” She has held several solo exhibitions, including “Sun Has Teeth” at the Latvian National Art Museum in 2023 and “Lazybones” at Natalia Hug Gallery in Cologne, Germany, in 2021. In 2024, Amanda Ziemele represented Latvia at the 60th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale with her project “O day and night, but this is wondrous strange…and therefore as a stranger give it welcome.”

Amanda Ziemele was interviewed by Nanna Rebekka at Kunsthal Møn44 in connection with the group show “Back to Future.”