About

ABOUT

HELLO, I'M KIRA-RASHIDA BÖLKE !

" Looking further than the obvious, paying closer attention to details most would overlook, questioning more than what meets the eye - this a big part of my creative process. The challenge is to look beyond the distraction of the chaos around us. My approach is a combination of documenting and making the documented my own by retelling the story through my own interpretation with the help of a brush or pen. My source of inspiration are my sentiments, my thoughts and ravings brought about by the environment I find myself in. Putting lines on paper or lines on canvas is almost an addictive feeling, full of adrenaline but also soothing at the same time. My work itself is a process, a self-made reality that reflects the world as I see it or as I want to show it to other people. They are snapshots of my feelings from situations that have happened. Making something with my own hands helps me to sort the chaos in my head. Where I am in my life, what I'm going through, how I feel in the moment- these factors help met to create and can also trigger provocation. I celebrate what makes us human, the traces people leave in the world – both the mundane and outstanding; the normal and the eccentric along with all the perfect imperfections.

I want to move from thinking to doing and learn to think anew from doing. "

BIOGRAPHY

PUBLICATIONS

CURIOUS Magazine, The Womxn's Issue, p. 47 , October 2020

Zine without a Crown, Issue 7 p. 17, October 2020

Darkside Collective Online Zine, A new normal, p. 40 , November 2020

The unfiltered zine, Issue 2- Daydreamer, December 2020

The Huts Magazine, Issue 1, p. 26-27, December 2020

Contrarium Magazine (Online), Issue 1 - Movement vs. Stagnation, p. 36, December 2020

Low Theory Zine, Issue 2 - the body, p. 8 , December 2020

Lose the Film, Throwaways- Zine, December 2020

Throats to the sky zine, Winter Issue, January 2021

Untamed Yoga, Untamed voices, p. 8, January 2021

Stuck in notes, Volume 2 - the Love Issue, January 2021

Okay Cool Magazine, Issue 4- The origin of our ideas, p. 23, Febuary 2021

Zine without a Crown, Issue 10, p. 33, 39, 45, (Collaboration work as Lowkira) Febuary 2021

EXHIBITIONS

2015, Aki University, two week exhibition from the Bachelor year, Enschede, Netherlands.

2017, MAFF, art festival, one week exhibition, Almelo, Netherlands, with my partner where our work was displayed in an old telephone booth.

2018, K- Fest, art festival, one weekend, Killorglin, Ireland, Exhibition with my

partner in a gallery.

2018, ArtEZ, Zwolle, two week exhibition from the Bachelor year, Netherlands.

2019, K-Fest, art festival, one weekend, Killorglin, Ireland. Exhibition with my partner in a gallery.

November 2020, Diafanomag, based in Barcelona.

A virtual - online Exhibition, "Artistic Creation in the times of Covid- 19. "

"It all was and still is an unstable feeling to live and create in those times of the Corona Virus. In this book is the first month of quarantine documented and how I experienced it.

With a lot of humor and a little bit of fear and sarcasm I drew in this book almost every day.

Covid-19 affected me in a way that I started doubting a lot and human kind. As a positive person it was difficult to not get angry all the time by news, fake news and that limited my freedom.

So I tried to put my feelings and experiences in this book."

- Kira- Rashida Bölke

December 2020, Lodger Gallery, based in Kansas City, Missouri.

A virtual - online Exhibition, "Uninvited guest ".

"Let’s face it, sometimes you just want them to leave, but they won’t. We’ve all been there.

If we are really honest, we have all probably been the one who overstayed the welcome at some point."

- Lodger Gallery

December 2020, Darkside Collective.

A virtual - online Exhibition, "HORROR VAUCI ".

"The following images show an interest in meticulously filling the empty spaces, where the selected artists contribute with stylistic elements that break the frame or contain the void. In the exhibition, we discover a narrative of what is hidden in accumulation; the meeting of apparently abandoned objects, represented by isolated elements that respond to the new construction of space. The understanding that emptiness can be the point of view of the expanding center or the filling of the entire surface of a place leads us to Aristotle's original idea that "nature abhors empty space."

- Carla Guerrero, Curator of the show

December 2020, Seagery Zine.

A virtual - online Exhibition, "Blank".

"The bright abyss that is blank space..

In my opinion, there are two kinds of intimidating blank spaces from an artist’s perspective. One is intimate and it’s the responsibility of the artist to fill it. The other belongs to the walls of galleries, where (if chosen) the artist can increase their visibility and reach.

There might be a third: the digital space. But its infinite potential and connectivity seems to outweigh the risk of becoming a guppy in a teeming ocean of talent. Not that that’s a bad thing. After all, in an infinite space, there’s always room to grow.

Seagery Zine wasn’t supposed to produce anything this year. It was slowly becoming another 2020 casualty. But the rise of virtual experiences proved to be reinvigorating. And here we are, in our first virtual exhibition.

This is for anyone who’s ever struggled with filling a blank, getting chosen to fill a blank, or even just feeling blank."

- Katrina Vera Wong

Febuary 2021, This is astro.

A virtual - online Exhibition, "Changing Spaces".

"When I roam the city streets I always walk with my eyes wide open. Especially at night time I love to wander around. The smell of the wet asphalt after the rain and the feeling of ultimate freedom while most people are asleep; it is almost as if the street is all mine at that point. The street is therefore my inspiration and my museum at the same time. When I find objects on the street, I am intrigued by their story behind it. What was the history of this object? What was the space it decorated? Who did it belong to? Most people won't be aware of this object, because it's garbage, it's done, it's a used thing, tossed on the street. I take this object from the place I find it, edit it with love inspired by the form and space, inspired by the environment I found it or associations that I have made in my earlier life with such an object. I'm creating something new out of it, paint it and give it a new story. I give it new history and paste it back on the street, give it a new space. A new value is created and so it is no longer rubbish. Sometimes the objects or pieces are so small that they blend into the space like they are supposed to be there. Sometimes with a story to make people aware of something and sometimes just a funny decorative thing."

- Kira-Rashida Bölke