writing matters

my reflection is down here!

I created an analogue collage zine, but since there is only one of that, here is the online version



the zine:

In this class our assignment was to write an artist statement, a creative text and an essay.

Just like everyone, there were (are) a lot of insecurities about the texts I wrote (write), also reading these texts out loud in front of people is something I am having a lot of anxiety with. In the first class it immediately became clear to me what a nice, accepting, calm space this class was, which made me less nervous.

Usually I make very visually works, but with texts it’s not about how the words look (mainly), but what is written down. Taking the step to make poems and other creative texts, critically look at my writing style, was something I think I really needed to get out of the visual bubble and learning how to translate this into text, and actually having fun with this! In the end I made a lot of visual support to the texts tho, couldn’t help myself ;-)

The artist statement I created consists of a poem and a more lineair text which simply explains who I am, what I make and a brief explanation of why I make these works.
The creative text is about me running in the landscape where I grew up: in between calm meadows, to also show another part of myself, the sportive one, because sporting and still is such a big part of my life.
The essay I wrote about self-portraiture because this was something I really wanted to explore, since I make them so often and didn’t know why.

One thing I really liked about the class was the feedback we got from our peers, and Esma. Every time Esma asked the exact right questions, these are questions many people avoid in general, because they are so hard to answer. These questions wer very much about the 'why', your inner reason. Putting these answers, feelings, into words was really insightful about me as a person, and as an artist.

I chose to make the end format analogue. Collaging is one of my biggest loves, so it was immediately clear for me to make a collaged zine. Because this zine is about me, I decided to print out the photo’s of my works, mainly my paintings, and collage with these, coloured papers and magazines. I really enjoyed making this and I am happy with the outcome of the texts, zine and my personal development.

What I will take with me from this class is that I should dare to try more, go and sit down with the question what my inner motives are to make a project and I got some nice tips on how to start writing, so with this I hope I will be able to set thoughts and concepts better into words. Besides this the personal growth I experienced by reflecting on myself and my work is significant for how I'm going to be as a person in the future, so I'm grateful I got such an amazing experience in this project.

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