Caren van Herwaarden

In her watercolours, drawings, collages, and sculptures, Caren van Herwaarden (1961) explores the meaning of humanity, physicality, vitality, and suffering. For her solo exhibition, she created a series of collages, including Restless Sinners, ‘a work based on a theme frequently found in Russian Orthodox icons: the Day of Judgment, the weighing of the soul.’

Using textiles, wood, cardboard, and natural materials, Van Herwaarden reveals the inner workings of human and animal bodies in Backbone, their skeletons so to speak, while reflecting on the failures and motivations behind human action. Themes such as motherhood, fertility, sexuality, life, death, and religion emerge through an introspective gaze, focused on the bones, vertebrae, and structures from which we are made.

Image: Caren van Herwaarden, History, 2021, collage 300 x 450 cm.