BIOGRAPHY
Ciska de Hartogh (1960),
who studied
3D-Monumental Art in South Africa and the Netherlands, creates works of art
that are more than purely aesthetic lines and streamlined forms. Her 'social
sculptures' embody an idea about an underlying social issue that influences the
general quality of life. Her involvement with the world is central to her work
as a visual artist. More specifically, the question of how man relates to
himself and to the world around him. The work of De Hartogh is thematic, in
which the subject is decisive for the visualization. With her artistic
expressions she wants to create awareness on social problems, themes in which
she is or has been personally involved, such as poverty, disease, a sustainable
society and nature, but also mental resilience, trauma and the question of how
people deal psychologically with life experiences, both positive and negative.
If it is necessary to speak of a signature or specific signature, it is mainly
determined by the content or theme, in which Ciska searches for the most
suitable visual expression. As a result, there is a great diversity of visual
expressions in her artworks. The work of De Hartogh as "art activist"
has initiated the Love Life festival in The Hague and received a lot of media
attention.
Concerned about nature conservation and sustainability Ciska de Hartogh, in
collaboration with various nature conservation organisations, launched a nature
conservation project by creating a collection of art objects NATURE GOOD ie
BAGS resembling ladies handbags, made from garbage recovered from
beaches during summer Beach Clean Ups. This nature conservation art project was
successfully launched in The Hague, The Netherlands, in 2013, where her
collection of art bags was exhibited in the Museum of Education Museon
for the first time. Different perhaps in visual appearance from her other works
of art, the collection does share Ciska's signature and philosophy of
addressing social and environmental issues through art. Generally concerned
about the plastic soup left as garbage by humanity which currently invades nature
all over the world, Ciska decided to start actively campaigning against garbage
dump, either on beaches or any places else. In her role as Art Activist Ciska
started advocating about the consequences of human waste dump and initiated
garbage cleaning projects and workshops in which she encourages participants to
create luxury art "hand" bags made from collected waste garbage;
plastic, cans, fishnets, buckets, plastic bottles and other waste items. The
participants are free to take their creations back home, thus actively
contributing in cleaning nature from waste and plastic pollution.
Since the
start of this initiative, the steadily growing collection of ladies handbags Ciska
has created herself consists of dozens of arty "ladies handbags" made
of garbage waste material. The collection has travelled the Netherlands in
recent years on various occasions and locations, setting an example during her
exhibitions and workshops for creative solutions, thus actively advocating on
and campaigning for reduction of plastic and other forms of human garbage
pollution in order to secure present and future nature conservation.
In 2018, an
exhibition of Ciska's paintings, photographs and films was held in Amsterdam as
an official affiliated event of in the 22nd International AIDS Conference held in
Amsterdam. The paintings , photographs and films were based on her years of
humanitarian aid in Africa, where she helped establish one of the most
successful AIDS control programs in the world in Cape Town.
In 2010, Ciska received the Green Apple Award
from the University of California for an "Outstanding Contribution to a
Sustainable Lifestyle" and in 2019, because of her focus on and
involvement with social and humanitarian issues through Fine Art, was awarded
the Second Price by Humanistisch Verbond in The Netherlands. Ciska is currently
preparing new graphic oil paintings and new sculptures for upcoming
exhibitions.
Website: www.ciskadehartogh.com
