Josephine Baltzersen (b. 1992, Copenhagen) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with an MFA in 2022. 

My practice operates between relief, sculpture and printmaking, using narrative as a way of translating contemporary social and intimate experiences into tactile form. Drawing on the visual language of ancient friezes and relief, I work with storytelling as something embedded in surface, rhythm and material rather than linear representation. 

Central to my practice is a self-developed casting process using carved linoleum as both image-making surface and mould system. By carving directly into the linoleum and casting the positive form in acrylic plaster, the physical act of carving remains visibly embedded within the work itself. The repetitive marks create rhythmic surfaces where line, texture and depth carry both structural and emotional weight. 

Working primarily with bodily and intimate compositions, I use relief as a way of exploring touch, memory and presence. The carved lines begin to resemble topographies, fingerprints, strands of hair or traces worn into a surface over time, allowing the works to move between figuration and abstraction. Subtle shifts in depth and the movement of light across the relief alter the image depending on proximity and viewpoint, encouraging a slower and more sensory mode of looking. 

While inspired by historical relief traditions, the work remains grounded in contemporary everyday life and social experience. I am interested in relief as a contemporary narrative form that can exist within architectural and public contexts, where light, time and bodily movement become active elements within the work itself. Embedded within shared and public space, relief functions for me as a democratic and accessible medium encountered as part of everyday life.