“We wear our second skins every day” Mella Jaarsma [artist statement,1999] Can humans choose who their parents will be? Is it possible that a person could determine what their parents look like, so that he/she could choose their body shape and the color of their skin and hair before they were born? I pose these questions …
continue readingWhen Remy Jungerman asked Mella in an artist’s interview why she chose to study at an Indonesian Art Institute, Mella answered: ‘The need to make art in Indonesia is directly related to a community, and this appeals to me’[1]. This answer is characteristic of Mella. She feels strongly connected with the social surroundings where she …
continue readingDefining Mella Jaarsma is a complex business, as she cannot be fitted into any neat category. She stands on a unique threshold, belonging to Indonesia and Netherlands, neither authentically Indonesian nor Dutch. Moving against the grain, her art education brought her from the Netherlands to Indonesia on a personal exploration of shadow and light. She …
continue reading