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EventsBetween Worlds: Navigating the Liminal with Damaris Athene
As part of our Amici x MEGA editorial series, we caught up with Damaris Athene, an artist whose expansive practice spans painting, sculpture, performance, photography, and digital collage. Based in the UK and currently undertaking a residency in Stockholm, Damaris is known for her investigations into the posthuman body, materiality, and the increasingly fluid thresholds between the digital and the physical. Through richly layered installations, she draws viewers into an uncanny, porous world where nothing is quite as it seems.
"Each material process has its own sensibility and pace of work."
Damaris’s practice resists easy categorisation, shape-shifting across disciplines in a way that feels instinctive and experimental. “Often the idea will lead the way in finding the appropriate medium to express it,” she explains, “but also many of my ideas stem from exploring the material itself.”
Whether it’s kiln-formed glass, airbrushed paint, stitched fabric or digital collage, she speaks about each material with reverence and curiosity. “When I start working with a new material or technique a whole new world opens up to me and my brain will be fizzing with new ideas. I would get bored working with only one.”
Each process brings its own rhythm, resistance, and surprise. “Kiln-formed glass can be slow to prepare for firing and nothing beats the excitement of opening the kiln to see if your piece has worked... Air-brushing paint can be so quick but also torturous... sewing can be meditative but also fiddly and frustrating... digital collage can be an infinite process.”
In-Between Spaces
At the core of Damaris’s work is a sustained interest in liminality — “a fertile space for discovery,” as she calls it. Her work moves between states, forms, and boundaries: digital and physical, organic and synthetic, body and object. “I explore a non-binary sensibility in my work, not ‘either or’ but ‘both and’, embodying dualities and interconnection.”
That same in-betweenness is something she observes in her audiences too, shaped by digital technologies that expose and conceal in equal measure. “Our phones... have almost become part of our bodies, an extension to our physical brains. The cruel irony of being able to connect with more people is that we are becoming more polarised.”
The Posthuman and the Porous Body
Drawing from feminist posthuman theory and new materialism, Damaris’s work repositions the body within an interconnected ecosystem. “It has made me de-centre humans, reexamining hierarchies and imagining a post-anthropocentric world,” she says.
Influenced by thinkers such as Astrida Neimanis, Rosi Braidotti, and Karen Barad, Damaris reflects on bodies as porous entities—interacting with and shaped by other bodies, environments, and technologies. “One of the things that connects us is water,” she notes, referencing Neimanis’s concept of the ‘hydrocommons’. “In a world experiencing a climate crisis... it is pertinent to consider our interactions with the organisms and environment around us.”
Residencies and Rootlessness
Currently based in Stockholm for a residency, Damaris is embracing a shift in pace and perspective. “The biggest change for my practice is having access to workshops again... It is a brilliant opportunity to not only produce work but also experiment with new material processes and sow the seeds for future work.”
The residency has given her the space to both reflect and accelerate: “Coming to Stockholm has kickstarted my making again and I feel like my practice is accelerating in new exciting directions that have been bubbling up since finishing at the RCA.”
Water, ever-present in the city, has become a recurring influence. “I always find that my surroundings seep into whatever I’m making,” she adds. “Here in Stockholm, water is ever-present and it’s feeding my continued fascination with it.”
Building Relationships
Damaris is currently preparing for a solo exhibition with SLQS Gallery in London, having worked closely with founder Sarah Le Quang Sang across multiple projects. “I find that this sustained relationship has given me greater confidence in my work. I feel like I have a cheerleader who’s there to support me in reaching my goals and advise me along the way.”
Their connection runs deep: “Sarah has engaged on a deep level with my practice, even reading books that have been key to my research.”
Connecting Through Conversation
Alongside her studio practice, Damaris also runs Private View, an interview series that spotlights women and non-binary artists. “This project came about from a desire to change the gender imbalance of the art world,” she explains. Through interviews and studio visits, the platform has not only amplified underrepresented voices but created lasting connections.
“Private View is what first made me feel like I was properly part of an artistic community and the connections I have made have turned into opportunities to exhibit my own work. Sarah and I actually first connected when I featured her work on the Private View instagram in 2022!”
As she continues to expand her practice internationally — from Stockholm to future residencies in Germany — Damaris remains committed to the spirit of dialogue and discovery. “I like to be surprised along the journey of making an artwork,” she says. “The making itself is an act of discovery.”
“This way of making helps me to access uncharted territory and embody liminality.”
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