In search of home and the courage to celebrate men

Much of my work is about the search for paradise, for places of freedom and expansion, but also for a feeling of home. Unnoticed by me, in this search for home I started painting my husband. Not at our home, but out there in the wild, searching himself for a place, a moment.

It feels strangely courageous these days to paint men. Maybe even to celebrate men.

Painting them feels like a small act of rebellion, a push back against a divide that feels more present nowadays, but perhaps has always been there.

I have spent so much time looking for paradise in landscapes, gardens, far-away places and imagined worlds. Paradise isn't a place we go in search of, it’s not a place at all. It’s a happiness we create in our minds, a world we shape for ourselves. Ultimately, we are alone on this journey. And at the very same time, we are accompanied by others, also searching, also living life in the balance between wild adventures and cosy sofas.

And so, for once, the figure in my landscape isn't incidental. The figure is a man.