rolina nell

Maandag Wasdag / Monday Laundry Day

I draw inspiration from the journeys I make, but I also find my subjects close to home. Like I did for the Monday Laundry Day project.

I grew up in the Noordoostpolder, where my grandparents settled themselves as pioneers. When I started looking into the history of the Noordoostpolder, I discovered old photographs of women in the Noordoostpolder, dressed in the costume of the region where they originally came from. It intrigued me that these women held on to their traditional clothing, despite the fact that they had started a new life in the polder: regional dress as an expression of identity, and as something familiar in an unknown world. In time they let go of the costume and other traditions and customs taken from the old country. And with that, the corresponding structure also disappeared. The latter explains the title of this project: Monday Laundry Day.

I paint women in regional dress on the basis of old photographs, isolated from their everyday environment. Through the use of egg-tempera in transparent layers, and by a very sober use of color, the atmosphere of bygone times is created. Sometimes the clothes seem to stand on their own, as if the wearer herself has disappeared. It is a subtle game of presence and absence. The sharp contours of the clothes resulting from the use of templates suggest a restriction on movement, reminiscent of a corset.

Link to Maandag Wasdag series drawings, murals and the installation 't wasgoed.