“I approach the soil, the earth I dig in and bury myself in, as a motherly matter, a universal womb to which we can all return. A place of comfort, surrender, trust in our impermanence.
-Eva Bartels painter| performance art | ritualist
ARtISTMISSION
Eva Bartels is an award-winning artist based in Amsterdam. She uses her own body as the primary medium in what she calls Ritualistic Installation Performances (RIP)—immersive acts that blend visual art with collective ceremony. Her work includes installation, painting, and living sculpture, all growing from her ongoing research into the lives and legacies of female artists throughout history.
Her practice has been widely supported through national and international grants and residencies, including support from the Dutch Culture Fund. These opportunities have allowed her to present and develop her work across Europe, Cuba, Mexico, and the United States.
Currently, Eva is developing a series of ten performances and living installations titled Mothers of Art. Each chapter focuses on the life and work of a different female artist. From this research, she creates her own body of visual and performative work in dialogue with their legacy. These pieces eventually take shape as performance, installation, or visual art.
One of the central works in this series, Emergence, is inspired by the earth-body art of Ana Mendieta. In this performance, the audience is invited into an intimate experience—into the soil, into memory, into transformation.
Bartels’ style is rooted in research, self-reflection, vulnerability, activism, and collective ritual. She uses her own identity and personal questions as a compass, creating experiences that feel like open conversations or shared interventions between artist, audience and Earth.
