Ingrid Slaa

"Our stories are in our bodies, they are lived through our bodies. That body is therefore for me eminently the means to put those stories into the world."

Relation to the Expo

Ever seen a human-sized water lily? If not Big Bold Botanic? The power of opening the petals, the beauty, growth and buoyancy also say a lot about the same characteristics of humans. Which is bigger: our differences or our similarities?

About my work

Through casts of my body, or parts of it, I tell stories. Stories that are about brokenness, about being trapped, trapped, about being damaged, distressed and in pain. But also about self-awareness and strength. About getting up again, moving on.

The images evoke all kinds of emotions, including anger, fear, abandonment, but also resistance, comfort and pride. And that is what it is all about for me: turning thoughts, feelings and emotions into spatial work and using them to touch, make others think, comfort or move.

About me

Ingrid Slaa's work is narrative work. Work that confronts and makes you think. Trained at the Vrije Academie in Nunspeet, she then developed further in making large and small spatial works, which together often form an installation.

Always based on prints of (parts of) her own body. "Our stories are in our bodies, they are lived through our bodies. That body is therefore for me eminently the means to put those stories into the world." There is always something recognisable in them, however alienating the images sometimes are.

That makes the works often evoke personal stories in viewers.

Besides a studio, Ingrid also has a small gallery at home.

She uses it to show her own work. And 1 weekend a month, Ingrid invites always another colleague and together they create an inspiring exhibition. All information about the studio and the gallery can be found at: www.ingridslaa.nl