"I am much more agile and free as an artist now than I was before the diagnosis, I actually feel like it all the time now."
This week Esther Didden is in Rotterdam at Laurien Dumbar's studio. For years Laurien painted, until it was no longer physically possible. It turned out she had rheumatism, especially in her hands. Difficult for a painter: stretching canvases was no longer possible, making large stencils was no longer possible, but also the finer work, carefully cutting for days with a small knife for example, was no longer possible. A period of years of exploration followed: how can it be done? And that question applied to much more, not just making art. For her artistry, the diagnosis of rheumatism could have been a tragedy, but she also felt a liberation. Deep in her heart, Laurien knew she was not a purebred painter, and she seized the opportunity to completely let go of painting on a stretched canvas. The search for new ways took nearly five years. She's glad she didn't know that beforehand. Now she works with photography, continues to study abstract painting and is more agile and free as an artist than ever before.
"After about five years, I had work again that I thought, I could show this again."
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