‘Moedervlek Vaderland’ 1989
large watercolour drawing, about 150 x 120 cm
title translateable as Birthmark Fatherland' - in Dutch, ‘birthmark’ literally translates as ‘mother stain’
of where my body touches the (paper) surface, body carrier
as nation-state Holland - with my birthmarks marked as cities in red
made after returning from a 4 month Erasmus exchange to the Städelschule Frankfurt-am-Main,
where I realised I was more Dutch than I thought;
feeling closed in in huge Germany, and physically missing the sea in the west as orientation point

related work: ‘ba-by loook at me’ 2002 (mumbag drawing) / ‘Hiding behind the Flow’ 2014 (photo) / ‘bellbodystory’ 2008-2021 (animation) /

other of my 1990 BFA graduation works: ‘soliciting’ (text on blouse) / ‘for noone’ (object) / ‘here’ (text) / ‘Frog and Princess’ 1990 (drawings) /