Soft words I tell myself

Exhibition featuring a series of works by visual artist Roxy van Bemmel.

“This series of works is inspired by the harshness I show towards myself as a creator and person. I have started whispering soft words to myself as a contrast to constantly feeling the need to be grander, to improve, and (in my own view) to do everything alone. The two works ‘Daydream for a couple of hours’ and ‘Even when no one is looking’ are based on self-portraits and reflect these harsh and gentle sides.”

Roxy van Bemmel is a visual artist working and living in Utrecht. She graduated from the Fashion Design program at ArtEZ in 2017 and started out as a fashion illustrator. Her work has been featured in publications such as Het Parool, exhibited at the I Love Illustration Gallery in Amsterdam, and she won the international FIDA Award in 2020. During the pandemic, she immersed herself fully in painting and focused on fine art. Influences from her background in fashion are still evident in her work. Her pieces often consist of self-portraits constructed from digital collages, which she transfers onto canvas using oil paint. Her work is always introspective, dealing with themes such as identity, loneliness, and femininity, and serves as a time capsule of what is happening in her life at that moment.