Born of loss, my search began. I am Agnes Duijves and became an artist in my forties/fifties. It had an urgency.... When I was nine, my mother died. In our garden the cherry tree was in full bloom. That fleeting...
Read MoreBorn of loss, my search began. I am Agnes Duijves and became an artist in my forties/fifties. It had an urgency.... When I was nine, my mother died. In our garden the cherry tree was in full bloom. That fleeting beauty offered comfort and awakened the desire to hold on to it forever.Then I got also breastcancer. My three children, a triplet, were also nine. An eerie parallel. I began exploring artistic forms to hold on to that fragile blossom and I developed an interest in Japanese art and philosophy. There I found both the acceptance of impermanence and the continuity of life. Its beauty, within the rhythm of nature, is expressed in mono no aware. I work with delicate, real flowers, such as blossom and poppies, symbols of love, loss and life in hanakotoba, the Japanese language of flowers. Embedded in gold, their organic forms, poised between appearing and disappearing, become iconic, timeless images. Images that evoke stillness and a sense of transience. The process of experimenting is ongoing....
