embracement Print

Chris was born and raised in the Dutch harbor city of Rotterdam. Inspired by the growing city, Chris developed a vision on what he recognizes walking his hometown. The always floating river Maas, the changing skies behind the Rotterdam sky scrapers and the laughter and tears on people's faces if life meets them. Everything there is can always be seen differently, depending on where you stand and what you want to see. This vision didn't come from nowhere: after finishing high school, Chris studied German literature and history at the universities of Leiden and Berlin. In researching the traumatic German history, Chris was attracted to societal borders in a traumatized society. How was it possible for people in the worst possible circumstances to find freedom? And even more interesting: How did those people manage to express themselves? After completing his studies, Chris became a secondary school teacher in his hometown, in what still is an underdeveloped neighborhoud and one of the poorest areas of the Netherlands. Nowadays, as one of the directors of a secondary school, Chris tries to help providing equal chances in education. It is for this reason that Chris also became a member of the City Jury of Rotterdam (CityLab 010). Combining all of these perspectives on modern society leads to the same urge he feels when looking at the always flowing river Maas: to express himself on the 'changeable society', while seeing it from all the different kind of views - academic, social, educational, geographical, governmental and all the other perspectives one can think of. With so many cultures, connections and perspectives, there is always something to be seen differently. The world appears to us criss cross, or in Dutch, kriskras. In his work, chriskrasart, Chris therefore tries to represent the power of differences and of perspective. The world the artist sees, is ever-changing. At the same time, by looking at the world and representing it in art, the artist also changes the world. As in change, reality can be found, so to say.