Distorsion 2017
Udsen’s work holds great beauty, but she often explores a more sinister and menacing vision of nature. In her photographic series Distorsions, an intense observation of dried agave leaves and the light falling on them heightens the viewer’s attention to the thorny and tenacious plant with teethlike ridges. The sharp shadows that fall on the surface below visually become part of the plant like multiple black leaves, changing its shape and pushing the image towards abstraction. The distinctive agave leaves are still recognisable, but the subtle shift in shape and the close-up views of the wrinkles of the dried, leather-like skin and their sharp thorns add an almost threatening feel to the pictures.
Text of Art historican Lise Johanne Sinnberg (2019)