Caroline Coolen is a Belgian visual artist whose practice spans sculpture, assemblage, woodcut printing and installation. In her work, she acts as a contemporary hunter-gatherer, rearranging impressions or fragments from her “Umwelt” into images that are both visually and tactilely rich.
She focuses her gaze on liminal zones — the edges of the world — where thistles, pioneer vegetation and the unseen serve as metaphors for resistance, resilience and a different form of beauty. At a time when both ecological and cultural elements are under pressure and threatened with extinction, her work serves as an act of attention, restoration and revaluation.
Through the use of various materials with inherent meaning, and through techniques such as collage, assemblage and free association, she explores the potential of the marginal and the overlooked. Her work undermines dominant narratives and makes room for alternative forms of value and representation.