Petra (Peter) Lommen is a transgender visual artist whose work has long explored identity, transformation, and the tension between visibility and erasure. Active since the 1970s, Petra was among the early openly transgender artists in the Midwest, creating work that addressed gender questioning and personal authenticity at a time when such subjects were rarely discussed publicly and often met with hostility. They earned both a B.F.A. in 1979 and an M.F.A. in painting and drawing from the University of Minnesota in 1984  and have exhibited their work widely since the early 1970s.

From early on, their artwork often explores archetypal images of women as a form of metaphorical self-portrait, layering celestial imagery, vintage costume references, and poetic composition to express a personal, creative, feminine energy. Inspired by the dark skies and northern lights of northern Minnesota's Boundary Waters, they return again and again to starscapes and galaxies as symbols of mystery, transformation, and identity. Through abstraction and symbolic portraiture, their art expresses the experience of existing in the margins, seeking beauty and truth in the expansive space between self and society.

Beyond their studio practice, Petra has worked in both art and science education, including significant work in paleontology and at the Science Museum of Minnesota, experiences that sharpened their sense of visual detail and narrative in her paintings.

They continue to build an ongoing visual autobiography, inviting viewers into a universe where gender, memory, and the cosmos are closely intertwined.

CV | Media | Quotes | Poems