Offshoots i & ii

 In Offshoots, Elsa Maritz offers a quietly uncanny image: her legs and feet emerge from the forest floor like inverted roots,  reaching upward, searching downward.

 The body becomes a mimic, a misplaced sapling, attempting to belong to the ecology it stands within. 

This performative photographic work continues Maritz’s exploration of the porous boundary between human and environment, presence and absence, gesture and stillness. By inserting herself into the landscape, not standing tall like a tree, but anchoring herself upside down, the artist gestures toward an aching desire for rootedness, for undoing, for return.

OFFSHOOTS (i)

Performance Photography 1/3

August 2025

OFFSHOOTS (i)

OFFSHOOTS (ii)

Performance Photography 1/3

August 2025

'LAMENTATIONS'

Performance photography series. November 2024.

"Lamentations" is a poignant exploration of the destruction inflicted upon our natural surroundings, embodying the artist's deep engagement with themes of transience, grief, and vulnerability. Through this powerful work, she articulates an outrage that resonates with the viewer, evoking a profound sense of loss and reflection.

In this piece, Maritz invites us to confront the fragility of our environment and the emotional weight of witnessing its decline. The work serves not only as a lament for what has been lost but also as a passionate call for renewal and life.

'SWAY' Performance | Photography Series

Sway was capture as an intuitive response to the environment, shot on location in Iceland. The artists desperately attempts to immerse herself in a field of swaying grass. The artist deals with themes surrounding loss, grief vulnerability and ephemerality, her performative acts serve as a platform to insert herself in her natural environment in order to feel grounded and part of a bigger whole.