About

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Elisa Verkoelen works from the empty space in shells, the silence in conversations and the leftovers of soap we wash our hands with. Her work as a multidisciplinary artist and writer focuses on physical ways of rememberence and the relation between daily life and grief. She uses site-specific techniques and landscape-dependent materials, with a preference for bronze, soap, wood, and paper. Her work consists of installations, sculptures, poems, recitations, prints, and site-specific work. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in In Situ at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and a Bachelor of Design in Illustration at Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht.

Portrait by Julia Waraksa. 2025

Installation view of ‘Bij leven’ in Huidenclub. By Joris van der Einden. 2026

Bij leven is a series of bronze memorial objects based on handprints. The handles, cufflinks, and small bowls demonstrate how grief is a bond between people, one that, as the years pass, changes color and develops golden linings. By capturing the handprint of a person, the work preserves not only the physical negative space of the hand but also the way someone grips or holds something. The pieces exist in the space between monument and functional object.

The aim of this project is to stretch the border between life and death, to bring people into contact with mortality during their lifetime, and to offer the bereaved a tangible, physical memory Elisa Verkoelen started this project following the death of her father. In her work, she explores grief not as a void or an absence, but as a physical form of presence that is shaped by daily life.

The objects can be ordered with personal imprints, prices are available upon request.

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