Nis Beck

Nis Beck is a Leeds based artist working primarily with resin sculptures and pinhole photography. Her practice is shaped by ideas around in-betweenness as she grew up in Vienna, within Austrian, Hungarian and Polish cultural environments. 

Her practice explores places of in-betweenness through dynamic forms of mixed media and resin sculptures, creating liminal spaces between reality and imagination. Within this realm, questions of identity, movement and boundaries are voiced through the ambiguity of pinhole photography. 

‘Between Tides’ is a series of fiberglass and resin sculptures with dynamically bent coastal photographs navigating the negative space between. This work reflects on the fluidity of boundaries and notions of belonging amidst geographical and cultural cultural loss. Inspired by the changing tides of the ocean and its dynamic energy, the sculptural pinhole images explore their way throughout space, seemingly appearing alive in their own way, while caught in motion. This piece captures coasts as fading places, creating an atmosphere of ambiguity and allowing liveliness and melancholy to coexist. 

Led by the idea of coasts as edge lands, being between water and dry land, presents a parallel to the circumstances of individuals standing between multiple cultures or places. These subjective experiences of us in relation to our environments are captured through the medium of digital pinhole photography, with the core subject being bodies of water. 

‘Between Tides’ consists of multiple fragments that cross the threshold between sculpture and photography. Embedding the images into epoxy resin and bending them results in a tactile and haptic piece of work. The nature of the materials creates a reflective waterlike surface relating back to conceptual ideas of Beck’s practice.