ABOUT

Totally unexpected I find myself performing on stage with musicians and dancers creating art live in front of an audience. How did I get here?! As a little girl I learned drawing from my grandfather, and I’ve been drawing ever since, yet growing up in a utilitarian Calvinist environment being an artist was a no-go zone. I studied business and entered the suffocating straight-jacket of corporate life. The desire to create was unstoppable. I sneaked out to attend art classes (leaving my jacket on my chair to hide my absence) . Then… I finally followed my heart and quit to go to Chelsea College of Art! My first project was aptly titled ‘Liberation’.

This sense of personal liberation, self-discovery and empowerment finds its way into my art. I’m on a continuous mission to shed further layers of societal conditioning, hopefully inspiring others too, hence ‘A Trajectory to Unsuffocation’.

My work is a celebration of life, to be fully awake, grab life by the horns! Yet simultaneously it’s a never ending search for meaning in this life, a spiritual path, wondering what lies beyond our sensory experience. I ask myself can we transcend to a higher understanding of reality? How do I relate to my senses, my body, movement, nature, and simultaneously the wider cosmos? I work with a total focus on being in the present moment, which relates directly to my artist practice.

I improvise, often in live performance. In my studio I practise endless hours to be able to be fluid and spontaneous in the moment, akin to a musician’s practice. My approach is experimental. Through playful collaborations new ideas spark, an exciting process shifting what’s possible. I’ve painted on ‘dancing canvasses’, performed in a 60cm narrow shop window during Covid, amongst other free-spirited events. I aim to bring something new to the intersection of visual art, music and dance and contribute to a rich legacy.

In my neurological set-up, vision, sound and bodily movement are all intertwined and ways to reach a higher state of consciousness. Together, they form an integral part of my creative process.

I draw on my synaesthesia. When I hear sound, I see colours, shapes and patterns moving in my mind’s eye, relating to the timbre of the instrument or a rhythm. To me, the sound of a bass clarinet appears as purple or deep red, while birdsong appears as sinuous shapes. Recently, my synaesthesia started to occur with ordinary sounds of daily life, after I had a brain injury which involved a prolonged period of sensory deprivation.

Also, I’m inspired by various movement methods, esoteric 5Rhythms, Gaga (imagine moving through butter), Iyengar yoga (balance and alignment). Practising Latin dance in my youth developed my instinctive feel for rhythm. I listen deeply to live music every week. Furthermore, I studied colour theory in-depth; I’m so meticulous I take 2 entire days to mix 4 precise hues. Finally, spiritual awareness is important to me. Through my daily sitting meditation practice I connect deeper with the ideas of Zen Buddhism and Taoism.

When you encounter my work, you will see my visceral embodied approach in the bold impasto pastel marks and gestural acrylic brush strokes, expressed in an exuberant use of colour. An invitation to experience the intangible poetry of the ephemeral moment.​

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