Artist Statement/ Biography

Elise Rasmussen is a research-based artist working in photography, video and performance. Her work questions patriarchal notions of history and how storytelling, the role of memory and the archive can be re-purposed and re-positioned to fit contemporary, feminist ideological positions. By shifting the emphasis away from dominant narratives she searches for a personal connection with the subjects on which she bases her work. Using historical texts and artworks as a platform, her practice metabolizes accepted historical recollections, straddling the line between fact and fiction while positioning the artist as investigator in order to propose alternative readings.

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Elise Rasmussen received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on a Merit Scholarship (2007), and her BFA with Honors from Ryerson University (2004). Elise is represented by ESP | Erin Stump Projects in Toronto, and her work has been exhibited, performed and screened at international venues including the Brooklyn Museum, CCS Bard Hessel Museum (Annandale-on-Hudson), Pioneer Works (NY), Night Gallery (LA), the Berman Museum of Art (Philadelphia), the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin), Standpoint Gallery (London), Werkschauhalle (Leipzig), Dazibao (Montreal), Gallery 101 (Ottawa), and TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary. She has been written about in publications such as Art in America, BOMB Magazine, and the New Inquiry and is the 2016 recipient of the Barbara Spohr Memorial Award from the Banff Centre. Elise has been an artist in residence at a number of institutions including the Nirox Foundation (South Africa), the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin), Pioneer Works (NY), LMCC Process Space (NY), SOMA (Mexico City), and has been a participant in the Art & Law Program and the New Museum Seminar (NY). In 2016 she was awarded the Jerome Foundation Travel & Study Grant and the International Residencies Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. Originally from Edmonton, Canada, Elise is based in Brooklyn, NY.