Carla Liesching

Carla Liesching (born 1985) is an artist from Johannesburg, South Africa, based in New York City. Her work investigates human relationships to structure, particularly ideological shifts in geographic organisation and narrative. Liesching's practice addresses conceptions of self in relation to place, movement, distance and belonging. Interested in the photographic portrait's agency in the shaping of identity narratives, Liesching creates archives of staged environmental portraits, which parodically hearken back to the medium's early involvement with human classification systems and pseudo-scientific exploration (for example, photography used in the aid of physiognomy, physical anthropology, phrenology, Darwinism and colonialism.) Liesching's installations often include sculptural and sound components alongside her photographic work. She is most recognised for her photographic series "The Swimmers". Liesching is represented by Cape Town-based gallery Brundyn & Gonsalves.
Biography.
Carla Liesching was born in Cape Town in 1985 and was raised in various small towns around SA, mainly in the Eastern Cape. She received her BFA, specialising in photography, video and sound installation, from Rhodes University in Grahamstown and moved to Johannesburg shortly after graduating in 2007. Since then she has recently spent time working in Taipei, Taiwan and is currently based in New York City.
Career.
Liesching received her BFA Degree from Rhodes University. As an artist, she has exhibited widely in South Africa and abroad – most recently Germany, England and Belgium. Her work has been shown in various international publications including Art Review, GUP Magazine, The Viewer and "The New York Times".
As an instructor she has run workshops for the SA National Arts Festival, assistant lectured at Rhodes University and taught photography at the Market Photography Workshop and Photo Manhattan.