According to research done for social currents, women working in the arts make €18,000 less a year than men
I know exactly how you feel
 
 
I think, that the confrontation...
of the awkward moments,
I enjoy that.
It's like silences in a conversation when no one knows what they should say next.
I'm just actually really bad at small talk.
And very good at...
heavy conversations.
Not everyone is like that,
and small talk often is used to fill up awkward silences.
Being quiet together is one of the hardest things.
People feel very uncomfortable doing that, because a lot of other things come in to play.
So please, just let us talk about the weather...
But it sharpens our emotions and boundaries.
And that's the bit that interests me the most.
You need people to be uncomfortable for that.
I'm looking for real emotions and real contact.
And I don't really know what that means exactly.
I firstly look for it in myself, that's where I should start.
But what is REAL contact with myself?
And how do I experience...
when am I really in contact with those emotions?
That's why I put those feelings in the spotlight.
To understand them.
To freeze that emotional moment, and to be able to analyse it.
I am a mother now.
I draw myself, very big, and naked.
That's kind of crazy.
I had my atelier at home for a long time,
when Lotte turned three,
all my drawings where on the wall, above the couch.
and...
it came up that the drawings might have to be covered.
That was difficult for me.
I was like, yes, but that's just my job?
On the other hand, I don't need to provoke everybody extremely with that.
"Should you expose your child to that?"
I thought to myself, I don't know how YOU shower your kids,
but you go in the shower with them, right?
I don't think a women's body is provoking just for being naked.
What colour is it becoming?
Red.
Red?
Is it supposed to?
Yeah.
It's a pretty colour, right?
And still you notice,
For example, I notice it with my contacts.
The contact starts on facebook or instagram.
Along the way they find out I am a mother, and it always seems to jump out.
"Oh but you're a mom too?"
Well, yes, but what has that got to do with it?
It shouldn't say anything about my work.
I think it's not linked, at the same time, being a mother is always connected to me.
But during art academy, I never had those examples.
Before that none either.
The examples I had were mostly men.
The rare female examples,
were not moms.
I even remember teachers telling my peers, "If you finish art school, you won't become a mother too soon will you?"
I was thinking,
that's a weird thing to say.
People often view it in an easy way,
the moment you become a mother,
had a child,
you would have less time, and you would be less passionate about your work.
Even though,
for me it has had the opposite effect.
Because of my daughter, I fully dedicated myself to art again.
That sucks for you.
Professionally, people start talking about the subject often.
In a certain context,
watch out so you don't become one of those women who only shows emotion in her work.
It's still a process to see it as a power.
That the emotions are a power.
I believe it more and more,
but even talking about it now,
it's still really hard sometimes.  To see it as a power.
To not mark it too female, or too emotional in my own head.
For me, it was really important to
look less at the standard image programmed in to my head.
I think it is important, to have a female perspective,
because there are not enough yet.
Also, to show that, female, what is always seen as
emotional, dramatic, too much...
That that is simply not true.
Yes, it's emotional.
Yes, that can be uncomfortable.
But it does not make it have less of a right to exist. It does not make it less valuable.
It is not less important.
Or, maybe we should just hide it... no.
 
 
