Fenneke Hordijk:
“This exhibition is a reflection of my work over the years. Its guiding principle is my love of drawing, of paper and what it can do, and my search for different ways of telling and depicting stories. What defines me are stories of decay, destruction, and war. Illness and death have accompanied me all my life. War too, though it remained an unfamiliar shadow until after my father’s death, when I came to recognize its meaning. My father was one of the 52,000 forced laborers deported to Germany during the Rotterdam raid of November 10, 1944.
Language and poetry are important elements in my work. The collection The Psalms, adapted by Lloyd Haft, marked the beginning of my exploration of how poetry could be translated into image. This 50-meter-long drawing was my first attempt. My search for what moves me in a story—such as the one my father typed out, or the stories of women caught up in war—is not a conscious process, yet I know what I am doing when I decide what to explore further and what not. Watching the work evolve means feeling, probing, and taking time.
In a studio equipped with a press, an old industrial sewing machine, several drawing tables, and a large wall to work on, I can explore how and with which materials the story should take shape. My aim is to depict with the simplest of means what cannot be expressed in words.”
Wil je dat ik dit in een vloeiendere “artist statement”-stijl herschrijf (meer idiomatisch Engels), of liever zo dicht mogelijk bij de oorspronkelijke Nederlandse tekst houden?