I have experimented with various ways to let my work leave the studio and interact with the world, in places where people are not neccesarily interested in art. I do this because I believe that images can evoke a different kind of conversation, than words do. I believe that the act of drawing means practising yourself in being open, vulnerable, curious, and attentive to what is around you and within you. I believe that drawing together creates a different kind of encounter. And that when someone has drawn herself, he or she will cast a more involved look at an exhibition.

residency at AxionContinu, nursing home for people with acquired brain injury

In 2019 I was a resident for two months in a nursing home for people with acquired brain injury of AxionContinu. I got to assist during various activities, I spoke with inhabitants and employees and conducted drawing workshops with the inhabitants. Meanwhile, when I came home home I wrote and drew to reflect on this period.

Though I found a lot of warmth and care in the home, I also witnessed pain and brokenness of both body and mind. It made me start looking for what offered people hope, joy and comfort.

At the end of the residency I left an edition for the inhabitants: a portrait that represents various sides of living in the home. The face expresses both peaceful acceptation as sadness and mourning. The many glimmering fragments in the head represent ephemeral and fragmentated thoughts and emotions.

Collecionista de historias – Cali, Colombia

Art work book

During the corona pandemic in 2020, AxionContinu developed an art work book for the residents of it’s nursing homes, who were forced to stay in their rooms and to not see any visitors due to corona measures. I contributed a page with an outline to make a drawing.

Drawing postcards

In 2020, also during the corona pandemic, Viaa university in Zwolle invited me to exhibit some of my works related to the sense of alienation related to life taking place mainly online – as was the case for their students during the pandemic. Simultaneous with the exhibition, the art committee of Viaa and I developed a plan to connect the students and exchange what impact the pandemic had on them, through drawing. We sent all 1500 students a postcard, that was empty on one side and on the other side had one of 5 simple drawing assignments that provoked imagination.

The postcards were to be sent back, the drawings were uploaded onto a webpage, thus collecting a stream of images evolving associatively around the pandemic consequences. These images were meant to instigate a different kind of conversation on the topic, than through words.

Drawing together

In 2015 I participated in an exhibition in a former jailhouse in Utrecht, my home town.  Here I made a wall-filling drawing with the visitors, who got to pick a set of instructions telling them what to add to the work; a pattern, a figure, a certain movement of the hand. The combination of many ‘handwritings’ and interpretations of the instructions is what had my interest, as well as the dialogue with the visitors about the drawing that came into existence. When is it finished? Where do you want to add something?

Art as a learning tool

The lectorate of art academy HKU invited me to do a short residency at business learning institute De Baak. As part of research on ways to employ art as a learning tool, I was asked to work on a drawing in plain sight of the students. During their lunch breaks I spoke with them about what I was doing. For some,  watching the process of art being made caused wonderful insights in their own learning process.

Furthermore, in each classroom cards were to be found with details of my works, that were exhibited in the hallways. On the backside of each card an invitation was written to find the work the detail was taken from; and an additional question, inviting you to reflect on a specific question through the artwork.