“I position my stories in the time of now. Contemporary does not mean trend-driven. It means aware.” – Leonoor Ruigrok
Dutch context
I grew up in Noordwijkerhout, close to the sea, with the dunes and the westerly wind always nearby. Now I live and work between the bulb fields and greenhouses of the Dutch flower region. I don’t think of being Dutch as a fixed identity in my work. But landscape, wind, water and the way this country is shaped and cultivated are simply part of what I know.
Female perspective
Being a woman in my work is not a theme, but a presence.
I grew up with both protection and independence. My father and older brother were protective, but at the same time I was taught that everyone has to pedal their own bicycle, and that, as a woman, you should also know how to fix your own tyre.
That independence runs through my family. My grandparents had seven daughters, who were encouraged to study, travel and make their own way in life. My mother continued working after she married, at a time when that was far from self-evident. She had already bought her own house before my father moved in.
As a girl, I was given much the same freedom. I climbed trees, walked through the mud in my boots and raced around outside on my bike with the boys. At the same time, I could be very much a girl. Both sides were simply there, and both were allowed.
Looking back, I recognise that combination in my work. There is protection and tenderness, something that also appears in my Shelter forms. But there is roughness too, and a strong need for freedom.
Hare and Deer from the It’s Nature series are another example. Hare began with a soft toy I carried around as a child, but gradually became stronger and more masculine in my images. Deer became even more masculine. Yet I never experienced these figures as something separate from myself. They are also part of me. Part of who I am as a woman.
The different roles a woman can inhabit are one of the things that interest me in R. J. Peskens’ Two Queens and a King. I don’t see a hard dividing line between what is masculine and what is feminine. Different qualities can exist alongside each other, overlap, or come forward when they are needed.
I don’t need the viewer to read my work in exactly this way. I prefer to leave that open. What interests me is recognition.
Perhaps that is also why I am drawn to women who are entrepreneurial, who stand for something and take up space. Not because taking that space should be remarkable, but because it is not always self-evident, and sometimes you simply have to take it.