Iris Kensmil

Iris Kensmil works from her own life experience and from a Black feminist perspective on history, with a focus on achievements for a postcolonial future. Her critical stance also extends to representational styles, with a sensitivity to how the complexity of life is archived in art.  

Iris Kensmil was born in Amsterdam in 1970 and grew up in Paramaribo from 1971 to 1979. She studied at art academy Minerva in Groningen and then did residencies at ISCP in New York (2010 - 2011) and Tembe Art Studio in Moengo (2013).  

In 2019, Kensmil represented the Netherlands at the Venice Biennale. She has recently had solo exhibitions at Art Institute Melly in Rotterdam (2021-2022); Matthew Brown in Los Angeles (2021), the Haifa Museum of Art in Israel (2019), Museum Kranenburgh in Bergen (2019) and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven (2017).