Elsiena is a Dutch visual artist based in Valencia, Spain. She received her BA in Fine Arts from Academy Minerva in Groningen in 2012 and works with sculpture, assemblage, collage and graphic techniques.
Working with wood, rope, wool, steel strapping, paper, fabric, cement and found objects, she takes familiar materials out of their usual context, allowing new layers of meaning to emerge from their physical qualities and existing associations. Bindings, rough edges and methods of construction remain visible. Acts such as tying, wrapping and holding together become part of the work’s visual language.
Elsiena grew up in a rural area in the north of the Netherlands in a traditional farming environment. This background remains present in her direct approach to materials, craftsmanship and construction.
At the age of 42, she left the Netherlands and moved to Spain, where she began rebuilding both her life and artistic practice from the ground up.
Her work is rooted in experimentation, reduction and the search for essence through material and form. Across both two- and three-dimensional work, she creates new structures by cutting, rearranging, binding and combining separate elements.
Her recent sculptures include totems, nests and pods. The totems embody sovereignty, protection and inner strength, while the pods reflect potential and new beginnings. Across her practice, she explores autonomy, resilience and rebuilding life on her own terms.
Elsiena has exhibited internationally in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Taiwan and North Macedonia.
