MUNTHE ART MONDAY: DANTÉ KEDDE

Please introduce yourself and tell us about what you do.

Hello, my name is Dantè Kedde and I’m a 20-year-old artist and model. I’ve wanted to be an artist ever since I was young, and I have been working towards that dream since then, however, modeling unexpectedly came on my path when I got scouted at 15. My art style is still in development, it contains a lot of surrealism, but if there is one thing I love to draw/paint and include in almost every artwork I make, it’s women.

Danté is wearing our ELEGANCE jacket

Could you explain more about how being a woman has affected your career?

If any, being a girl, and especially being a trans girl, has affected my career for the better. From a very early age I’ve been able to express my feelings in my art by drawing and painting the women figures I’ve always longed to be. I’ve never been much of a talker, but in my art, I could speak. Now my priority is modeling, to see what this will bring me, and it’s not possible for me to do a full-time study at the art academy and modeling at the same time. However, of course I still do art and take my little sketch book and camera with me everywhere I travel.

Can you name some other female (artist) that inspires you and explain why they do so?

An artist who inspires me is Frida Kahlo. When I was younger, about 13, someone saw me drawing and said to me that my work reminded her of Frida. I didn’t know of her existence at the time. But ever since, looking her up a few months later, I have really been admiring her work. She also worked from within and used art to express her feelings.

What has been the most challenging aspect of being a female artist?

To be honest with you, I’ve never really felt any challenges being a female artist. Probably because I am still young. And I’ve never even thought about it in that way. For me art has always been a way to express myself and something I enjoy doing - not necessarily something I do to impress people. I do it for me.

What would you like people to notice in your artwork?

I’m always very curious about what people see in my art without them knowing the story of why I made it. Of course, I make my art for a reason, sometimes because I struggle with something, and sometimes purely because I want to create something beautiful. But people can look at my art freely and create their own story, unless they want to know more personal details, in that case, I will tell them more about my own reasons behind it.

Danté is wearing our ENERA dress