“Colonial structures are still ongoing—it’s right now, in so many ways.”
Jeannette Ehlers urges us to confront what has been forgotten. Through her art, she engages with the enduring legacies and emotional afterlives of Denmark’s colonial history in the Caribbean and its role in the transatlantic slave trade—a history erased from collective memory and dominant historical narratives.
We met the Copenhagen-based artist in her studio and at the Danish West Indian Warehouse, now home to the Royal Cast Collection—a historic site deeply intertwined with her practice and the broader context of European colonial history. For Jeannette Ehlers, this space has become a central point of reflection and artistic intervention, where the traces of colonialism intersect with her exploration of erasure, memory, and resistance.
“When I realized how deeply involved in the colonial history this building is, I decided to make my performance Whip It Good within the walls of the building,” Ehlers explains as she walks among the white plaster sculptures.
Jeannette Ehlers insists on the possibility of empowerment and healing through her art, honoring legacies of resistance within the African diaspora. She merges the historical, the collective, and the rebellious with the familial, the bodily, and the poetic. Drawing from her personal experiences and ancestral histories, she creates works that engage deeply with themes of identity, erasure, and solidarity.
In the interview, Jeannette Ehlers takes us through the origins of her practice, from early experiments with erasure in video art to monumental projects like I Am Queen Mary, a sculpture made in collaboration with artist La Vaughn Belle honoring Mary Thomas, a leader of the Fireburn labor revolt in the Virgin Islands.
Jeannette Ehlers also reflects on her use of symbolic elements, such as braids, spectral silhouettes, and physical ties to colonial spaces, to represent both the weight of history and acts of resistance. Her work speaks to the complexity of living with these histories—grappling with their presence while seeking paths toward healing and reconnection. For Jeannette Ehlers, art becomes a way to reckon with suppressed narratives and offer new perspectives on the past and its enduring legacy.
Jeannette Ehlers was interviewed in her studio by Nanna Rebekka in November 2023.
Camera: Jarl Therkelsen Kaldan
Produced and edited by: Nanna Rebekka
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2024
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, C.L. Davids Fond og Samling and Fritz Hansen.
Subscribe to our channel for more videos on art: https://www.youtube.com/thelouisianachannel
FOLLOW US HERE:
Website: http://channel.louisiana.dk
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/louisianachannel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LouisianaChannel
source
UCY2mhw-XNZSxrUynsI5K8Zw
