Laila van Berge (b. 1994) is a visual artist, academic researcher, and avid educator. Driven by a fascination for the spiritual and the supernatural.the myths of modernity and the search for meaning in contemporary culture, Laila's praxis focuses on exploring and researching new forms of mundane magic and secular sacredness. With a strong DIY mentality, Laila moves into a field of belief and desire, working in an eclectic and chaotic technique and aesthetic to constantly interact, mutate, and transform the symbiosis of the material and imaginary.

In their work, Laila explores the entanglement of contemporary spiritual practices, objects, and ideas and their cultural context. Through cases of modern magic and spirituality situated in a secular scene, Laila questions the more abstract modes of the making of man and meaning, and ways of worlding.
Currently, Laila is a PhD candidate in comparative religious studies at the Radboud University. In this research project, they explore the relation between spirituality and whiteness within wellness retreats. By thinking through and with wellness, Laila aims to understand its potential to subvert and/or subjugate to the mainstream metaphysics of Modernity. Laila is curious to understand how these retreats can become places that perpetuate predominant systems of social inequalities as well as how they might be able to open up routes to alterity.

 

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