Amanda Kleinhans

Working primarily in sculpture, installation, video, and performance, Amanda Kleinhans’s work brings the fat body and the fat experience to the forefront by confronting audiences with how the two are perceived within modern society. Although we are in an ebb and flow of having a societal “body positivity” movement, there is always a lapse in fat acceptance. Through their work, Kleinhans calls out these oversights and seeks to find resolutions. Fat is separate from The Fat Body, which is also separate from The Fat Experience. Common feelings associated with them are disgust, shame, pity, repulsion- especially in today’s GLP-1 lens. By reframing the perception of the Mighty Trio (fat, the fat body, and the fat experience), Kleinhans aims to give viewers an opportunity to reroute damaging thoughts towards them.

Amanda Kleinhans is a queer, fat interdisciplinary artist currently living in Pittsburgh, PA. Kleinhans received their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture / Ceramics from the University of Southern Mississippi and their Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Florida State University. Nationally, they have participated in exhibitions in Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, New York City, and Miami. In 2018, their work was a component in a study conducted by Matthew Pelowski at the University of Vienna on the effects of the viewer when interacting with installation art. They also competed in the 2019 and 2024 iterations of Artfields, a Southeast regional arts competition, in Lake City, SC. Kleinhans performed during Miami Art Week with Performance Is Alive X Satellite Art Show in 2019 and 2021.