I use my work to create awareness of our precarious – but above all –
life. I like to play with a childlike sense of wonder, which is in stark contrast to the underlying social issues I build my practice on. Time is an important part of my work. Both in theme (mourning) and in choice of material (such as flowers). Material that is fragile and time-bound creates a certain feeling. After all, it is only there for a short period of time.
With my art installations, I create site-specific works: that resonate with the design, history and dramaturgy of the space it is placed in. As both a visual artist and scenographer, I manipulate and empasize a certain place and time. I see my practice as an ongoing research on the multiple perspectives and polyvocality of my subject-matter. These subjects (or: stories) can differ from project to project. But a continuing theme inside my artist practice is the search for the tangible invisible. Especially since losing my mother to cancer in the fall of 2022; I tend to make art about (embodied) grief and the traces and objects of lives past.
Artist Statement Madelief van de Beek 2024
