CV:
2014-2018 BFA at Hochschule für Bildened Kunst Hamburg in the class of Werner Büttner, Jochen Distelmeyer and Thilo Heinzmann.
2017-2018 Erasmus, Kunsthogskolen i Oslo, Norway.
2018 -2020 MFA, Body, Theory and Poetics of the Performative, Staatliche Akademie der Bildende Künste Stuttgart.
2018-2023 Studies at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
2023 Diploma, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, class of Rita McBride.
Artist Statement:
Lena Mai Merle is a cross-media artist occupied with the depiction of imprints. She illustrates the structures and interdependent interferences of identity constructs, group relations, roles and the production of the "other" in historiography, autobiography and narration with an imagery in which objects and figures act on an equal footing, which allows them to act beyond their attributions. As in a maze, a mesh of associations of text and images of various origins proliferates in her pictures. In order to escape from them, the observer must reinterpret and rethink. Hence, Lena Mai Merle invites observers to reflect on ways of seeing, interpreting or even reading. As part of various collectives, she continues to explore the efforts of group work and possibilities of authorship.

Exhibitions (selection):
2022
Bitte dreht mich jetzt um, auf dieser Seite bin ich schon gar!, Wuppertal. The House that Mum built, SVNTOS32, London.
MOBBINq Diq, collective performance, Galerie Hinten Links, Hamburg. 2021
Let‘s get one thing straight cause my teeth are not - with Alex Winterstein, B10B, Düsseldorf.
Animal Crossing, solo at Emde Gallery, Mainz.
Another world is possible, RCA London, online, GB.
ALPHA INDUSTRIES, with Tim Ehrich and Paul Glaw, Lübeck.
2020
raus project Vol.7, @raus.project, Hamburg.
Revenge is a Dish, with Amalie Gabel, Loevens Hule Gallery, Oslo, online, NO.
Conditions of a Necessity, performance MFA KTPP, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden.
Genius Loci 8: Interplay, SETAREH Gallery, Düsseldorf.
Master Pauper: Potent und Propper, Theater Rampe, Stuttgart.
raus project vol.1, @raus.project, Hamburg.
CARRIER, Barrat Rüsseltorf, online, DE.
2019
Y AYACLA (Robin Hood), collective performance, Sommer des Wissens, Hamburg.
NORTH RHINE WESTFAILURE, performance by Barrat Rüsseltorf, Düsseldorf.
Nacht der Museen Stuttgart, KTPP im Diakonissenbunker, Stuttgart.
2018
HISCOX Art Prize, Galerie der HFBK, Hamburg.
Massephase, Sprink, Düsseldorf.
FIN, by Magdalena Los, nomadic(on)temporary, Hamburg.
S.T.a.R. Flash, ok.terrain, Hamburg.
X Jahre Kunst in Hamburg, Benzene at Affenfaust Galerie, Hamburg.
2017
Season End, After School Special, Bergen.
The Toilet Show, KHIO Oslo, Oslo.
GIFC - LLC, Galleri Rod Bianco, Oslo.
ARTz IV, Benzene, Hamburg, DE G20 – An Artistic Review of the G20 Summit, Galerie Speckstraße, Hamburg.
Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm.
DIN A3/B4, Tonenton, Copenhagen.
2016
Curatorial Tongues, Tonenton, Copenhagen.
H (o) l d______ #, Spedition Bremen, Bremen.
We take no responsibility, Copenhagen.
2015
Under Construction - Imag(in)ing Identity, Frappant, Hamburg.
2013
Düsseldorf ist ARTig, Kunsthaus Düsseldorf.
Scholarship/Awards:
2023
Walther Stöhrer Preis für Grafik (winner).
2013
HISCOX Art Prize, Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, Düsseldorf ist ARTig (nominee)
EigenARTig Förderung für bildende Künste (winner)