Leah Damgaard-Hansen is a 33-year-old photographer, filmmaker, and writer. Born in Norway to a Danish psychologist and a Minnesotan painter, she has lived between Europe and the U.S. ever since. As a kid she had a little 90’s camera she ran all over with, but (re)discovered photography as an art form around age twenty. Film-making came nearly a decade later. Her day job for the past eleven years has been as a self-employed piano tuner, supplemented with various other odd jobs such as graveyard caretaker, baker, and wine and cheese monger.
Artist’s Statement
My first transatlantic move happened when I was eighteen months old. Many more followed through my teen and adult years. Feeling intensely uprooted at a young age made me realize that to keep a coherent sense of self I was going to have to take root in something other than a cultural or linguistic identity. This is of course no finished project but something I am continually engaged in, including in my creative practice. I think primarily in terms of creating worlds. As a child I first explored other worlds through books, films, make-believe, and the art books on my mother’s reference shelves. Later on, I began to write and photograph my way into worlds of my own creation. I continue to build, expand, and explore these worlds in my adulthood. Crucial themes in my work center on the mysticism of the natural world that we, as physical beings, are embedded in; scenes of humanity and intrigue from cities all over the world; and an ongoing portrait series focused toward how our existence as embodied creatures informs our presence in the world and to one another. Self-portraits that reflect the changing backdrops I journey through in my back-and-forth life are a small but vital accompaniment to my larger projects.
Explore Leah’s work at www.leahdamgaard.com, or by clicking any of the images below to see more from a similar project.
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