Caren van Herwaarden
(NL 1961 / AKI Enschede / Rijksacademie Amsterdam)
For years Caren spent many hours in the anatomical collection of the Leiden University to study the inside, the material from which we are built. She could not separate the material sheath from feelings like fear, desire, resistance and surrender. Urges and emotions that have a purifying, as well as and a disruptive function in your life. The research in the anatomical collection forms the basis of her work. It is the memory of the body. And it’s the capacity for empathy what makes compassion and comfort possible. These universal and essential achievements make it – according to Caren – possible to be able to live together peacefully. She wants the viewer to first experience her work with his thunder and recognize it before understanding it. It must be raw, you must be able to smell it.