![Damselfrau mask I](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Damselfrau_mask_I.png)
![Damselfrau mask Virpir](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Damselfrau_mask_Virpir.png)
Magnhild Kennedy (born 1978 in
Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
), better known professionally as Damselfrau, is a London-based Norwegian artist. She creates
wearable art
Wearable art, also known as Artwear or "art to wear", refers to art pieces in the shape of clothing or jewellery pieces. These pieces are usually handmade, and are produced only once or as a very limited series. Pieces of clothing are often made w ...
, mostly
mask
A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and pra ...
s and
jewellery
Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...
. Her masks are presented on her own Instagram account and on several other websites; in magazines and exhibitions – and they are used by internationally known singers and other artists in their videos or on stage, as parts of their own projects.
Background and education
Kennedy grew up in Trondheim. Both her parents are artists. Her mother,
Heidi Kennedy Skjerve, makes experimental textile art, while her father,
Stein Rønning, is a sculptor.
Kennedy herself is self-taught as an artist. According to herself, she has never studied anything relevant to design or to mask making. She considers growing up in a home where both parents were artists, her schooling.
She has no formal training in
craft
A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pro ...
s or textile work, those skills she has developed over the years, learning through looking at clothes and crafts, trial and error, and watching
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
tutorials.
Career
![Damselfrau mask II](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Damselfrau_mask_II.png)
When she and her husband Robert Kennedy moved to London in 2007, she made masks only for herself and her husband, as parts of outfits to be used in parties, but from 2009 on she works as a professional mask maker under the name ''Damselfrau''. Damselfrau consists of the English word «Damsel» (unmarried woman) and the German word «Frau» (woman). Kennedy interprets this inherently paradoxical
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
as «married to oneself». A journalist called it «a fitting mantle for an artist who has become renowned for her masks; a craft that involves placing another ‘self’ on top of your own, creating both a combination of the two and suggesting something entirely new altogether».
Kennedy's first commission was for the Norwegian singer
Anneli Drecker
Anneli Marian Drecker (born 12 February 1969, in Tromsø, Norway) is a Norwegian singer and actress from the city of Tromsø. She is the frontwoman for the dream pop band Bel Canto.
Life and career
Drecker's father Peter, a German from Biele ...
and the band
Røyksopp for one of their tours. Since then she has made masks for artists like
MØ
Karen Marie Aagaard Ørsted Andersen (; born 13 August 1988), known professionally as MØ (), is a Danish singer and songwriter. She signed a recording contract with Sony Music Entertainment in 2012, releasing her debut extended play, ''Bikini ...
,
Beyoncé and
Daphne Guinness
Daphne Diana Joan Susanna Guinness (born 9 November 1967) is an English designer, actress, producer, and musician.
Early life
Her father is Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne, the eldest son of Diana Mitford and Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne, ...
, and collaborated with
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury bags and leather ...
.
Materials, inspiration, technique
All Damselfrau masks are made, mostly sewn, by hand. Kennedy uses all kinds of materials she can find, literary. The materials range from pearls, old tea towels and gold confetti to plastic trinkets and old laces.
She never sketches or decides the design of a mask on beforehand. The materials she combines decide the design and expression of each mask, which she sculpts on
mannequin
A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles. P ...
heads.
The process sometimes takes a day or a week. At other times the mannequin head sits on a shelf wearing a half finished mask for a year, until the right material «surfaces» in her studio.
Kennedy's masks transgress the borders between art, fashion and costume design. She is not particularly interested in masks as a category. What interests her, is to work with all sorts of materials, preferably materials with a history, and organize them in a small area, «so that in the end, they communicate something. I’m really more interested in decorating a space than a body or a face».
Exhibitions and presentations
While
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
has been the main platform for presenting her art, her masks are also shown on art and fashion websites and magazines, like ''
Vanity Fair'', ''
Another Man
Another or variant may refer to:
* anOther or Another Magazine, culture and fashion magazine
* ''Another'' (novel), a Japanese horror novel
** ''Another'' (film), a Japanese 2012 live-action film based on the novel
* Another River, a river in the ...
'' and ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
''. The masks are also frequently shown in solo and group exhibitions.
Selected solo exhibitions
* 2011 ''– Damselfrau,'' Doors Showcase, London.
* 2015 – ''Damselfrau ll, Idios''. Dalston Pier, London.
* 2017 – ''Damselfrau lll'', Dalston Pier, London.
* 2018 – ''Damselfrau,'' Rake Visningsrom, Trondheim, Norge.
* 2019 – ''Damselfrau,''
National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Trondheim.
Selected group exhibitions
* 2013 – ''MoBA 13, Mode Biennale Arnhem'', Holland.
* 2018 – ''Deviations'', Musee Bargoin, Clermont-Ferran, Frankrike.
* 2019 – ''International Festival of extraordinary textiles, ''Musee Brasov, Brasov, Romania.
*2020 – Adornment, Albert van Abbehuis, Eindhoven, Holland.
Memberships and honours
Kennedy is a member of the Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts.
In 2019 Damselfrau was included, by ''Vogue'', in their ''VogueWorld 100 pushing boundaries'' list, as one of the «100 fearless, talented individuals who have captured our attention of late and are poised to transform style, beauty, and culture globally in the months to come».
In 2019 she was also chosen as one of the «Top 100 wearable art designers on Instagram» by the ''Beautiful Bizarre Magazine''.
References
External links
*
Damselfrau's Instagram account with photos and videos of all her masksRetrieved 2019-09-13.
{{Authority control
Living people
1978 births
Artists from Trondheim
Norwegian artists
Norwegian women artists
Wearable art