Zwaantje Kurpershoek brings stories and materials together through sculpture, installation, painting, and objects. Her work explores conceptual fictions she creates, shaped by overlapping thoughts and a wide range of sources including anime, games, books, personal experiences, news, myths, Christian tales, family history, and mathematical concepts. She works with materials ranging from personal belongings to found and newly introduced objects, using unconventional techniques such as sewing paper, laser-engraving ceramics, or drawing with silicone. Her process is one in which stories, materials, and techniques respond to one another. She describes her practice as a form of “knotting,” connecting material and immaterial elements to explore how they might relate and to reveal potential connections between things.

A similar approach of “knotting” occurs in her paintings. Painting offers a more immediate way for her to explore these conceptual fictions through images and drawings, allowing thoughts and ideas to sit next to one another and form different worlds. Many of these fictions revolve around characters she calls “players,” whose traits and narratives shape their material forms. These players remain fluid, adapting to materials, space, and time, situating her practice as a form of myth-making.