Jikke Madelief Sara Lesterhuis

Jikke Lesterhuis is a visual artist, filmmaker, and puppeteer working with stop-motion animation and puppetry at the core of her practice. She creates tactile, handmade films and visual work in which materiality and movement play a central role. Using a wide range of materials, often shaped through intensive handcraft like woodcarving and ceramics, she builds surreal worlds rooted in personal experience.

Her work often stems from the relationship between humans and nature. She explores themes such as climate change, consumerism, and alienation through symbolic and layered imagery. Her fascination with puppets lies in their ability to transform. They exist between the familiar and the strange, and allow her to approach sensitive subjects with distance and nuance. Through animation, she gives life to the lifeless, creating characters and worlds where small details carry meaning. Her work combines playfulness with a subtle sense of melancholy, and invites viewers to look closer, feel, and question.