merina beekman at depont museum of contemporary art, tilburg, netherlands

merina beekman at depont museum of contemporary art, tilburg, netherlands 21 march – 24 may 2009

merina beekman’s tender portraits of swaddled babies, young boys and girls from the middle and far east are a compelling combination of hand-stitched embroidery with black and white ink drawings. her striking female figures are reminiscent of stylised 19th century qajar court paintings of dark-eyed women with heavily drawn eyebrows that meet in the middle. in her considered juxtapositions of quilted designs alongside unquestioning faces, beekman makes oblique but persuasive references about western perceptions of the oriental.

‘apparently not enough’, 2005

‘zonder titel’, 2008

‘uljasutai’, 2008

merina beekman, born (1961) in the netherlands, lives and works in amsterdam. she has studied at the rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, amsterdam.