About Helen

Helen Adams (2004) is a Belgian artist based in Kortrijk and a master’s student in printmaking at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent. Her practice moves between graphic art and painting and is rooted in personal memories, emotions, and lived experiences. Art functions as a way for her to process thoughts, confront difficult questions, and give form to emotions that are otherwise hard to grasp.

Photographs often serve as a starting point in her work, but never as fixed references. She uses them as triggers to relive a moment or memory, which she then redraws, distorts, and reshapes from within that experience. While working, she allows images to shift: details are exaggerated, altered, or newly introduced, creating a space where memory, imagination, and emotion intertwine. In this way, her work moves away from documentation and toward a more subjective and intuitive reconstruction of lived moments.

Materiality plays an important role in her practice. She is drawn to thick layers of paint, glossy surfaces, and rich textures, often using lino ink in unconventional ways. The slow process of painting and printing brings her into a meditative state, similar to the calm she finds in nature through long walks or camping. This slowness allows images and memories to surface organically.

In recent work, her focus has shifted toward intimate relationships and personal bonds, including the complexity of the mother–daughter relationship. Rather than depicting specific events directly, she works through suggestion, symbolism, and atmosphere. Through her work, she aims not only to give space to her own experiences, but also to create images in which viewers can recognize parts of themselves—to feel less alone.