Statement

Claudia Terstappen studied German Literature and Philosophy at the Heinrich Heine University and Sculpture and Photography at the Art Academy in Duesseldorf, Germany and is now a practicing artist of more than 20 years standing with an impressive string of international exhibitions, awards and publications to her name.

She has lived and worked in Germany, Great Britain, Spain and the US. Her artistic work focuses on the interrelationship between religion, superstition and science in relation to place, culture and time.

The main inspirations for her work have been voyages to Brazil, Colombia, Canada, Japan, the US (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah), Iceland and Spain. These destinations were chosen for their traces of ancient and modern belief systems, mythical stories, holy landscapes and spiritual thinking. Therefore work and travel have always been joint elements in her life. In her recent exhibition "Sacred Places" in Kyoto she contrasted very colourful man made altars (Spain, Japan and New Mexico) with sacred landscapes of the Navajo Indians (USA) and holy mountains from Spain and Iceland.