I have a scar on my right thigh, I had to get two stitches when a boy in my class stabbed me with a pencil. He was so in love with me, the tip remained and had to be operated on. I was nine years old. The visible trace activates my memory of that event. Like carving the motifs out of wood, makes me remember what happened.
Several of my works are bigger than me. I am interested in the physical traces that my actions and presence create, and use this as a starting point for my artistry. For this, woodcuts are an important method in which the traces are made visible. The very act of “carving out” becomes like making scars in the wooden board; in order for the motif to emerge, I have to take something away. What is not present becomes the subject. The works are often assembled as installations, sometimes back in the rooms where the tracks originated.
Because life has left its mark on me both physically and mentally, I am concerned with impressions. Everything in my process leaves an imprint: How hard I carved that day, how deep the grooves became, the way I moved my body across the wooden boards. I mainly use personal sources, such as my own texts, diaries, memories and photography as a starting point for the woodcuts. In this way I work with the memory, with what triggers your memory and mine.
The world is for me a repetition; of images, conversations, and text, which circulate in my head, over and over again, more and more distanced from the starting point each time. Everything mixes and becomes a sea of words, loose sentences and images. I want to make this sea; dreamlike, cinematic. Construct a room that has the order I seek in the chaos, with the possibility of inviting you in.