Elwira van Pijkeren

My work arises from a desire to understand how systems work: thought structures, power relations, crafts, family lines. I investigate how knowledge moves and transforms through images, materials, rituals, and stories. What is passed on, what is forgotten, what changes meaning along the way?

Born in 1972, I find myself between generations. Raised with remnants of colonial thinking, influenced by postcolonial criticism, I feel that neither perspective fully represents me. From this tension arose the idea of consolidism: an attitude of conscious observation and careful selection of what we take with us, what we revise, what we leave behind.

My fascination with systems also stems from my background in project management. That experience has shaped my working method: I work in a structured and investigative way, with an analytical perspective. This is reflected in the media I use: from data visualisation to textile dyeing techniques, from plein air studies to realistic painting, from photography to handmade paper. Everything I create stems from systematic observation and the search for coherence in multiplicity.

Accessibility is essential in my work. That's why I often choose recognisable forms to create openings for reflection. Because when something feels familiar, space arises for reflection. On what we've come to consider normal, and what we might reconsider.

I see humans as transmitters of knowledge: not owners of knowledge, but temporary bearers of it. For me, visual work is a way to consciously choose how I want to relate to that flow.