For my graduation project and my thesis, I explored the influence of growing up in a strict Reformed community on my identity and artistic development. My thesis examines the tensions between the traditional values of the Dutch Biblebelt and the modern, open environment of an art academy. Through personal reflections, interviews, and analyses of my own work, I delved into how faith and art can conflict but also inspire each other.

This project is not only a reflection on my journey as an artist but also a message to other young Christian artists: embrace your struggles and transform them into strength.

Tussen Kunst en Kerk, thesis, 2025

In Het zal Waar en Zeker zijn (It Shall Be True and Certain) I explore the Sundays of my childhood: slow days, shaped by rituals, rules, and silence. These moments form my memory of growing up within a Reformed Christian community, where obedience played a central role.

Over the past year, I have examined my own background, not to pass judgment, but to understand it, and to define my position as an artist within it. In this short animated film, I give form to the experience of growing up in a system that encourages conformity, quietness, and minimal deviation. My visual language is built with black bistre ink, layered in stillness. Repetition and slowness shape the rhythm of the film; elements that not only reflect the Sundays I remember, but also invite the viewer into a physical experience of that same pace.

Het zal Waar en Zeker zijn is not a judgment, but a personal reflection. A search for what remains of the self within a world of structure and expectation.
What is left of you when you're only meant to follow?
And who are you then, deep inside?

Scene graduation film Het zal Waar en Zeker zijn

Still graduation film Het zal Waar en Zeker zijn