Maartje Korstanje

Maartje's masks are based on the skull of a deer and the skull of a fallow deer, both of which she had in her studio. For her, it is a fantastic thought to be able to look at the world (for a moment) through the eyes of an animal. In her work she tries to make voices other than human heard and seen; the mask project fits in perfectly with this.

Maartje made the masks by converting photos of the skulls into pattern drawings, which were then machine embroidered. The resulting embroidery is placed on the existing mask and framed with cardboard mache, a material that Maartje often works with. Her signature can be recognized by how she uses cardboard, as well as by the combination of cardboard with embroidery and the border area between abstraction and figuration in which her work moves. This leaves room for the individual imagination of the viewer.

Maartje finds Frank van der Linden's SOTT project sympathetic and sees it as a great opportunity to do something completely different from what she normally does in her artistic practice.