My work is about making something out memories. What comes out? What do you see, what is shown? How much attention do we give things? I tried to make something out of memories, things that no longer exist or look different.

Artist statement

Using bright and vibrant colors, Shaydiah Granviel creates family portraits in which she traces back parts of herself. Growing up on Curaçao, Granviel was surrounded by the vivid colors of the houses, streets and nature. She uses these colors to bring her home into her intimate paintings and lively textiles.

The depicted family members are only distinguishable by characteristics like a moustache, or glasses. Granviel experiments with taking away facial features, leaving only the shape of the face. She wonders how much details she can leave out, before the portrayed person becomes unrecognizable. The feeling of being seen is important in her work, and giving a podium to those who feel like they don’t exist.

Fabrics flow out of Granviels paintings, as if trying to claim more space, reaching out from the flat surface to the public. The attraction to textile lies in the similarity with history. For Granviel, history is like a carpet. The past contains layers of stories, interwoven, some threads visible and some hidden underneath. Interlacing two images, she shows how stories can merge and form new ones.

Ambitions

I want to make thing I find joy in and that other people can also have fun in. I also want people who might need see themselves in art to be able to. In five years time I hope to be more free and stable in my way of working

Learned during the studies

The most important thing I learned from my study is that nobody else can make what you do. Do what you want to do but also believe in it.