Damaris Athene

Damaris Athene is a distinguished contemporary emerging artist recognised for her innovative exploration of the intersections between the digital and physical realms. She is currently pursuing an MA in Ceramics & Glass at the Royal College of Art, supported by the prestigious Marit Rausing Scholarship. Athene has been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Hans Brinker Painting Prize, the Clyde & Co. Art Award, the BEEP Painting Prize, and the Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award. She also received the City & Guilds of London Art School Prize for Outstanding MA Fine Art Exhibition in 2023.

Athene's transdisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, performance, photography, digital collage, and printmaking, often culminating in self-referential installations that challenge traditional perceptions of the body and materiality. Her work is deeply influenced by Posthuman theory, which reexamines hierarchies in a post-anthropocentric world and explores the fluid interconnections between humans, animals, the environment, and technology. Athene's practice inhabits liminal spaces, slipping between the real and unreal, and swimming through permeable boundaries between the organic and synthetic, the digital and physical, and 2D/3D spaces.

One of her notable series, "Fruiting_Bodies," explores potential future forms of the body, blending human and non-human, digital and physical, organic and synthetic elements. These works feature airbrushed fabric that creates orifices and bulges, with glass domes that suggest portals, alien eggs, or microcosms, evoking a sense of parasitic growth that blends beauty with unease. Another significant series, "Padded Paintings," starts with collages that develop into 3D clay models, which are then transformed into padded sculptural forms covered in neoprene and painted with an airbrush. These tactile works entice with their erotic corporeal forms, questioning the authenticity of digital perfection and the sensual satisfaction it promises.

Athene's achievements and innovative practice have earned her a prominent place in contemporary art, with her work being showcased in numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally. She also founded the blog "Private View," where she interviews female and non-binary artists, providing a platform for underrepresented voices in the art world. Her continuous exploration of the digital and physical realms, combined with her recognition and awards, underscores her significant contribution to contemporary art.