Artist Helen Kohl | Künstlerin Helen Kohl
Helen Kohl (b. 1994 in Bad Kreuznach) currently lives and works in Düsseldorf. She holds a BA in Fine Art from Oxford Brookes University, a technical certificate in glass from Morley College London, and previously completed a state examination in teaching with a major in biology at Julius-Maximilians University Würzburg. The artist’s transdisciplinary practice moves fluidly between sculpture, installation, and performance. Her work centers on liminal space and the continual becoming of self.
‘My work often begins with quiet observation—of bodies, of spaces, of the way memories linger. From there, it moves through reflection and becomes form: sometimes still, sometimes in motion, often somewhere in between. I’m drawn to the moments where things blur—where the lines between self and other, inside and outside, memory and present, aren’t quite fixed.

I’m interested in how we become who we are—how experiences, relationships, time, and places layer themselves into us. Identity, for me, isn’t stable or singular; it’s porous, always shifting, shaped by the people we meet, the spaces we inhabit, and the stories we carry within us. My practice is a way of thinking through these processes and making tangible the blurry patchwork of layered existence. 

Recurring forms and motifs like holding vessels, receiving funnels, sensory organs, and images of gestures and memories echo this idea of the porous self. The materials are chosen for their ability to speak this language of fragility, permeability, and transformation: glass, soft wax, skin-like rubber, porcelain, liquids, semi-transparent fabrics, and the body itself. I’m drawn to what is layered, translucent, unstable; things that ask to be looked at slowly.

Through my practice, I try to create a space that invites reflection—not just on what we see, but on how we feel, remember, and connect. In that space of looking and sensing, I hope something shared can unfold.’

CV

b. Bad Kreuznach, Germany. Lives and works between Oxford, UK and Düsseldorf, Germany.

education

2024

BTEC Certificate in Art and Design, Level 3 - Glass | Morley College, London (UK)

2023

BA (Hons) - Fine Art | Oxford Brookes University, Oxford (UK)

2020

State Examination in Primary School Education | Julius-Maximilians University, Würzburg (GER) 
BA (Hons) - Cultural Basic Skills | Julius-Maximilians University, Würzburg (GER) 

awards | grants | residencies

2024

Sound Diaries | Open Call 2023-24

2023

OVADA Gallery | Summer Residency 2023
The Platform Graduate Award 2023 | Exhibiting Artist
The John Henry Brookes Price 2023 | Award for the most outstanding achievement in the Fine Art Major Project

selected group shows

2024

eye and hand | Morley Gallery, London (UK)
Sound Diaries | Oxford Brookes University, Oxford (UK)
Between Nothing and Not a Thing | Zephyr Gallery, Oxford (UK)

2023

Fruits of a Summer Harvest | OVADA Gallery, Oxford (UK)
Metanoia | The Glass Tank, Oxford (UK)

solo shows

2023

The Platform Graduate Award | Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (UK)

interview

Published in conjunction with Helen Kohl’s solo exhibition at Modern Art Oxford as part of the CVAN Platform Graduate Award 2023

contact me.

helenkohl@gmx.co.uk