The Fine Art of Being Human: The Secret Society of Imaginary Companions
In my work, I give myself the opportunity to live in a parallel world, one in which I feel safe and secure, able to regain my childlike freedom and to be able to fully develop.
In order to give shape to this world, I have created sculptural beings, to whom I developed a personal relationship, during the process of their creation. Together, they form a secret society, in which they complement one other so that each figure takes its place.
The temperaments common to every human being form their characters. They have no gender, and are not subject to standards of beauty like our own. Their ways of communication is secret, yet accessible to everyone. This society invites the viewer to become part of them, to get closer to them, and to convey their message into our world through their clothes.
The search for answers and the desire for perfection are evident in the development of every society. This was also my aim in the conception of the clothes: to shape them in such a way that they correspond to each individual character. In order to be able to do their individual meanings justice, the clothing is formed by the shape of their bodies.
The quality of the art and the tradition of the craft is an important basis for my work, as well as the need for art and expression.
The texture of the materials used captures the quality of their senses and spirit— the colors determined by their temperaments. Thanks to the diversity of their options to interconnect, there is the greatest possible freedom to wear them from individual to individual.
Through the versatility of these garments, I give them the opportunity to pass us by and remain a part of the cycle. Since they are not subject to short-lived fashions, they outlast the times, and reflect my understanding of how to treat our resources with respect. To emphasise this, I have used materials that already had a first life or were produced sustainably and under fair conditions.
These values also reflect my wish for society to recognize the diversity of being human and that every living thing has its own justification. ‘The secret society of imaginary companions’ does not submit to any artificially created structures, and exists through perfect symbiosis. The names of the individual characters are of different linguistic origins and therefore cannot be correlated to any region, which means they could exist everywhere.
My parallel society should give examples of how diverse human beings are, how we all need each other, and how life connects everything.
Choose your character:
TIKMAN
The choleric - taste character
GREDDF
The sanguine - intuition character
FOFONA
The melancholic - smell character
SLIJM
The phlegmatic - sight character
MLOOG-LYTTE
The phlegmatic/melancholic - hear character
FØLE-TUNNE
The choleric/sanguine - feel character
