1st EDITION

'Art & Spirit' (Femke Hoyng solo) in the Netherlands

2nd EDITION

'Art & Spirit' (Femke Hoyng and 3 other artists) in FRANCE

3rd EDITION

'Art & Spirit' in FRANCE

Galerie46 in Hesdin

Femke Hoyng

6 Expressions of 'Art&Spirit'

HOUSES OF FAITH

Houses of faith (churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, etc.) are built with great care. They must be beautiful, attractive, and clearly visible. It resembles an artistic expression:

"Art"

"The ability to create beauty and evoke aesthetic pleasure."

But can you really say that? Do spirituality and religion allow for visual pleasure? Can you call a house of faith an architectural work of art? Must it be beautiful and impressive? Who does it impress? Who should it impress? Is such an impression an artistic experience? Are these buildings art in themselves, do they only become so after Femke Hoyng's processing, or does the image remain merely a record of a building?

The technique of "Photos in Relief"

Femke Hoyng's work seems somewhat naive and archaic. She creates "Photos in Relief" with great expertise; multidisciplinary combinations of photography, woodworking, and painting. Hoyng literally adds depth to photographs of varying depth. The pieces are cut out and placed on figured wooden panels of varying heights. The photographs themselves are not manipulated; the flat surface is drawn in only one spatial dimension. Hoyng places the relief in a (sometimes articulated) frame on which she paints colorful patterns and symbols that engage with the culture of the country where the photograph was taken. With her "Photos in Relief," Femke Hoyng has developed a unique method for disrupting the stillness of photography. By adding spatiality, a snapshot is set in motion.

Hindu temple in Madurai, India

120 x 120 cm

Mormon church in San Diego, Californie, USA

125 x 125 cm

Mosque in Burkina Faso, Africa

120 x 120 cm

Temple in India

cm x cm

Onion-church in Rusland

cm x cm

THE CROSS

An incredibly simple shape with so much meaning: two lines intersecting at a specific point.

Their relationship gives this combination a clear meaning understood worldwide: that of a sacred symbol.

Originally, the cross was a symbol of beauty and civilization (in the Neolithic period, 10,000-2,000 BC).

PREHISTORIC ANIMALS

Prehistoric people who created cave paintings are now considered by some to be the first "artists." They were often women. It was a tribute to animals and nature. People expressed gratitude for food, hides that provided warmth, and bones that could be used as weapons, cooking utensils, or jewelry.

At the same time, drawing primitive animals was a ritual to give hunters courage and hope for a good reward, as their work was not without danger. Cave paintings were educational for children: they learned what animals and hunting looked like. And which animals we had to flee from very quickly!

The ritual of drawing primitive animals offered hope, security, and faith.

HINDU GODS VASES

Colorful India, with its imaginative Hindu faith, inspires creativity.

According to Hindus, there are 17,000 gods. All the stories can be read in the Indian epic, the Mahabharata, a kind of Hindu bible.

In the South Indian city of Madurai stands a vast temple complex. It depicts all 17,000 Hindu gods. Below, several of them have been incorporated into ceramic vases.

GRAVE WREATH

French 'Couronnes'

In France, these "couronnes" were placed on graves or hung on church walls. They are delicately handcrafted using wire and glass beads, originally made in prisons by female inmates.

Following this ancient French technique, I create grave wreaths featuring images of the deceased. These can be either people or animals.

Animatiefilm 'POCOMOVOSO'