Hands often play a role in my artistic practice. Hands are sensitive, sometimes moving, sometimes frightening, and they can convey and reinforce a message. My knowledge of sign language has contributed to a fascination with hands.
In ‘Female Hands’ I zoom in on female hands that appear in 16th and 17th century paintings. In those centuries, few women transcended what was expected of them as women. And yet some worked as artists. Women artists have long been invisible. Only thirteen percent of Dutch museum collections still consist of work by female artists.
I print the hands, scratch the photos, perforate them and rub them with pastel. I call my working method ‘Iconoclasm’. It is an editing that is as careful as it is rigorous. The works are soft and tactile; at the same time they are affected.
This project is supported by: Cultuurfonds, AmarteFonds and JaapHartenFonds
My book GAZE is a reflection of the project Female Hands. The publication GAZE has 48 pages, printed in full color on A4 format, special soft cover and is signed in an edition of 100. It also includes a set of postcards of a number of works.
studio overview