German artist Zoe De Caluwé's (they/them, b. 1997, Hamburg, Germany) practice encompasses a range of materials including ceramics and found objects. Small acts recur: collecting, arranging and repetitive labour. These gestures accumulate slowly, creating a sense of suspension. The boundary between refuge and confinement remains unstable and constantly negotiated. The familiar domestic space becomes a charged site where reassurance and discomfort occupy the same ground. 

Gender is approached as something sustained through repetition. Femininity, in particular, is understood as a tool structuring how bodies are read and contained. Within De Caluwé’s work disguise operates as both shelter and instrument. To cover oneself appropriately is to remain unremarkable, yet, to wear disguise deliberately opens a small space of agency. What was meant to conceal begins to signal awareness. In this shift, the act of appearing offers a provisional freedom, one that exists within the structure, yet is not entirely governed by it.

While having an academically informed understanding of art history, their practice is rooted in experimentation rather than formal training. De Caluwé undertook their Art History masters at Oxford University in 2022 and is now based in Margate.

Recent exhibitions include: ‘Always container, sometimes contained’, TRA Collective; ‘A Room of One’s Own’, Irving Contemporary; ‘I’m Nobody! Who are You?’, solo at Marcella; ‘Ein Kaltes Herz kann die glücklich sein!’, solo at Liminal Gallery; ‘Salon II’, Liminal Gallery; ‘Honkatonk’, Limbo; ‘Love and Mankind is Grass’, Blue Whip; ‘Entangled’, Liminal Gallery x Saatchi Gallery; ‘Preparations’, Late Works; ‘Works Cited’, Margate Art Map and ‘A Cat. A Cat!’ solo at Limbo.