About me

Sofie Lystoft Shamel (b. New York, USA) is an artist whose work explores the intersection of memory, emotion, and abstraction. Raised in Copenhagen and now based in Lisbon, Portugal, her practice is shaped by a deep connection to place, drawing inspiration from both remembered landscapes and her immediate surroundings.

Working intuitively with layered color, gesture, and texture, Sofie’s paintings often begin with a specific intention, a scent, a place, a fleeting memory, but gradually drift toward intuition. Through this process, personal experiences dissolve into atmospheric compositions that invite contemplation and individual interpretation.

Influenced by the emotional landscape and energy of motherhood, her work reflects on the ways memories evolve over time, how they soften, fragment, and resurface through sensation. Flowers, coastlines, changing light, and seasonal shifts become recurring motifs, not as direct representations, but as vessels for emotion and remembrance.

Balancing abstraction with a quiet sense of familiarity, Sofie creates paintings that linger between presence and absence, offering viewers space to connect with their own memories, emotions, and experiences.