What is art without a message?
As long as I can
remember I have been a woman and artist. Enraptured by techniques, I
am a photographer by trade (studied in Belgium) and took courses in
medieval painting techniques (at one of the two schools in the world,
in Portugal). I was born in The Netherlands, lived in various
countries around the world and since October 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
Holy Family.
A conspicuous
feature of art in the Islamic world is the limited use of
naturalistic images of living beings. It stems from the belief that
the creation of living forms is unique to God. The purpose of the
prohibition was initially to avoid idolatry, as Prophet Mohammed
himself demonstrated when he purified the Ka’bah of sculptures and
idols. A person who tries to emulate God’s creative force, who
creates pictures of living beings in this world, will be ordered to
breathe life into them on the Day of Judgment, and will be unable to
do so. And it is for this reason that the role of images and
musawwir, image-makers, has been controversial.
The result of
restraint in the use of figurative depictions led Muslim artists in
time to freely adapt and stylize basic human and animal forms.
Through this visual manipulation and concentrating on abstract forms
of expression, artists generated stylised ornaments and Islamic Art
came to include in its decorative vocabulary a figural
representation.
Today, Saudi Arabia
is going through changes, also how it deals with a shift from the
traditionally proud oral culture to an increasingly visual culture.
Like many historical figures, though they are perceived in a mode of
storytelling, also the family of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) there
is no accurate visual imagery. Ask any person to describe such a
historical figure and we are all ready with a story. All figures
become actors in narrations, but how accurate we are while we
narrate, we do not know and, because we cannot know all facts while
narrating and trying to find answers to the unknown, we interpret and
add. Narrators are not so reliable and with these ‘portraits’ of
Arabian history and lore, I am no exception.
Fascinated by old techniques, I love to research, study and revive
medieval techniques and apply them in a contemporary way. These
paintings are based on ‘polycromia’ which is pure pigments on
silver or 24K gold foil. Preparing the canvas
for the foil requires 7 layers. After, the pigments can be mixed with
a very precise amount of natural materials and applied on the
prepared canvas. Now, the scratching away can start, yes, with a
toothpick. Finally it will be fixed to make it permanent.
Holy Family:
-First Born / Ismael;
-Two Brothers / Isaac & Ismael;
-Hagar;
(Ibrahim; Sarah; Siblings; The House of Abraham/Ibrahim;)
