Care is My Artistic Foundation
- ericafraaije
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
I often wonder: Is it okay to not have a system? To begin with fragments, a feeling, a question in the morning, and no clear outcome?
That's how I work. It might look like play, or even like chaos. But to me, it's care.
Here's a short reflection from the middle of things.
My latest work is temporary, like children's play with blocks. Currently, I am working in the garden. Every day, I make something new, then I take it apart again. The objects I use are like building blocks, rough, old, personal or impersonal, and I prefer them to be just a bit strange. They carry meaning, I know, but I do not always understand the meaning at first, but I feel it. I trust sooner or later it will reveal itself. Some meaning may only be shown in a specific context.
Care is at the heart of everything I do. Not only for the artwork, but for the ground I walk on, the cats I protect from chasing birds at night, the old paint flakes I pick out of the soil by hand after the renovation of our house, and the broken things I can't throw away because they still have something to offer.
Care is not soft. It's not passive. It does not need to be perfect either. A quiet form of strength. It's what keeps me from turning away.
Vandana Shiva wrote: "Care for the Earth is not a luxury, it is a survival imperative." That makes sense to me. It's how I live, and it's how I create.
My art isn't about trying to impress. Though it's rather self-assured of me to discuss my art this way. Increasingly, I don't even aim to produce a truly finished product. It's more of an ongoing process, focused on observing the small details and allowing room for the feelings, thoughts, and connections in the concept that might otherwise be overlooked.
Let me know if you'd like to read more about how I work, or if you also make things that aren't meant to last forever.
We're not alone.
Keywords & pathways:
What quiet.. an open, unfinished process as a product... , or not...