COMMISSIONS & Collaborations

Most of us have ways to depict the essence of a person as a symbolic memory or impression in our mind. I have been told some think of people as specific species of animals to condense a person's main physical, spiritual or social traits. Some may not be visual at all and instead hear a melody in their head. Some may be thinking of a scent. Some memorise a sharp emotion that manifests itself when they remember a person. Others combine any of the above and more.  

For me, people have become scapes: aquatic or terrestrial landscapes, seascapes, spacescapes. Some people are colorful, some are grey, some are sharp as rocks and some as soft as the clouds on a quiet day. Some are to me like an open plane and some are labyrinths of caves. Some people are dominated by fire, others by earth, water, wind or space. Most grow into complex compositions the more I get to know them and their stories. Some crumble and condense into a single rock shape surrounded by nothingness. I like to think of them as portraitscapes, although the word is being used in various other contexts as well.  

Collaborations offer an opportunity to merge, contrast and reflect on artistic practice in a human way. We can find ourselves with new views and matters we might not have considered and therewith step outside a trayectory, gain new erspectives and grow. Drawing from the essential elements all forms of art, including poetry, music, dance create unique expressions that jointly are able to reconnect us as humans to our origins.