I completed my PhD in Art History at the University of Copenhagen at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies in April 2026 with the project "Bodies of Work: Black Artistic Practices in Denmark and the Politics of Embodiment, 1980s–2020s."
This research project was supervised by Mathias Danbolt. The members of my assessment committee were Monica L. Miller (Barnard College), Andrea Fatona (Ontario College of Art and Design University), and Cecilie Ullerup Schmidt (University of Copenhagen).
Cover image: Jeannette Ehlers, Black is a Beautiful Word. I & I (still, detail), 2019.
English Abstract
Rumor has it that Michelle Eistrup in 1994 became the first black artist to be accepted as a
student at the Royal Danish Academy of Art. Her application—a performance titled Eget
Værelse (A Room of One’s Own)—involved staying in a crate at the Academy for four days
engaging in black study before revealing her presence. Despite the boldness of Eistrup’s
performance, this work has not entered sanctioned art history but has instead circulated as a
story.
Over the past five decades, black artists in Denmark have created a range of
performative, embodied works, much like Eistrup’s. However, these works are minoritized in
white-dominated Danish art history and marginalized in larger narratives of black diaspora
art history. As the first in-depth study of the history of contemporary black artists working in
Denmark, this dissertation creates a dedicated space for these works—a room of our own.
This dissertation focuses on five artists, linking their lived experiences to their
representations of the bodily. The dissertation highlights Maria Thastum’s color-evasive
digital prints in the 1980s, Eistrup’s endurance-based performances in the 1990s, Ellen
Nyman’s anti-stereotype campaign in the 2000s, Jeannette Ehlers’ collective antiportraiture
in the 2010s, and Jupiter Child’s audience-engaging installations in the 2020s.
The dissertation explores the challenges and possibilities of considering black artists
in Denmark as a collective group facing color-evasive racism and cultural isolation. Using
case studies, mappings of the local art historiography, and artist interviews, the dissertation
argues for the importance of in-depth, practice-sensitive analyses of black cultural production
in Denmark.
Dansk resumé
Fortællingen lyder, at Michelle Eistrup i 1994 blev optaget på Det Kongelige Danske
Kunstakademi som den første sorte studerende. Hendes ansøgning – en performance med
titlen Eget værelse – bestod i, at hun opholdte sig i en kasse på Kunstakademiet i fire dage,
hvor hun studerede sort tænkning, inden hun afslørede sin tilstedeværelse. På trods af
dristigheden af Eistrups performance er dette værk ikke blevet optaget i den officielle
kunsthistorie, men har i stedet cirkuleret som en fortælling.
I løbet af de sidste fem årtier har sorte samtidskunstnere i Danmark skabt en række
værker som Eistrups, der påviser en vedvarende interesse for det performative og det
kropslige. Men disse værker er minoriserede i dansk kunsthistorie, som er domineret af
hvidhed, og marginaliserede i større narrativer om den sorte diasporas kunsthistorie. Som den
første dybdegående undersøgelse af sorte samtidskunstneres arbejde i Danmark, skaber denne
afhandling et dedikeret rum for disse værker – et eget værelse.
Afhandlingen fokuserer på fem kunstnere og kæder deres levede erfaringer sammen med deres repræsentationer af kroppen. Afhandlingen fremhæver Maria Thastums farveundvigende digitale tryk fra
1980’erne, Eistrups udholdenhedsbaserede performances i 1990’erne, Ellen Nymans
antistereotype kampagne i 2000’erne, Jeannette Ehlers’ kollektive antiportrætter i 2010’erne
og Jupiter Childs publikumsengagerende installationer i 2020’erne.
Afhandlingen undersøger udfordringerne og mulighederne ved at betragte sorte
samtidskunstnere i Danmark som en kollektiv gruppe, der navigerer farveundvigende racisme
og kulturel isolation. Gennem casestudier, kortlægning af den lokale kunsthistoriografi og
kunstnerinterviews argumenterer afhandlingen for vigtigheden af dybdegående,
praksisorienterede analyser af sort kulturproduktion i Danmark.