Last August Dutch street artist Judith De Leeuw AKA JDL Street Art painted a massive canvas in Heerlen (The Netherlands) entitled “Child Of The State”. Curated by Getting Up, the project intends to shed a light on the dysfunctional Dutch Child Protection Services system.
About The Project
It all started when Judith was contacted to design a canvas portraying the ill will of the Dutch Child Protection Services and to draw attention to the massively broken down and dysfunctional care system. Being a victim herself of these privatized ‘prison-like’ housing institutions, Judith felt this piece was putting a huge emotional strain on her. She said that she’s never done anything this close to home before and that it brought up a lot of negative energy that she evidently channeled into creating something so captivating and positive.
The execution of this project was aided by the very esteemed fine arts photographer Carla van Puttelaar who also felt very strongly about Judith’s concept and agreed to a very in depth collaboration with her and the end results were outstanding.
The visual concept was based around the idea of captivity – being unable to move or breathe and emitting a sense or lack there of mental and physical control. One could interpret that the subject was being conserved in an almost motionless-like state which Judith felt it represented a huge part of the emotional ramifications of such an oppressive and unaware system. It was beautifully parallel to what one might feel in a situation of captivity and the still-like silhouette representing an absence of hope that’s inevitably been slowly chipped away at over a long period of time.
Initially the plan was that it would be done in a much smaller scale but after some serious thought, Judith felt it would have been too much of a waste to not ‘go big’.
A limited number of prints of the canvas can be purchased here.
About The Artist
JDL Street art aka Judith de Leeuw is a 23 year old international urban artist, based in Amsterdam. She started with spray paint at 15. Painting and drawing was her only escape from reality, due to an uneasy childhood. It helped her with the processing of emotions, and kept her stable.
In 2013 JDL was affiliated with the Art & Design program, which gave her the space and support to develop her style and identity. In 2015 she received her first commission, which allowed her graduate in 2016. In the same year she painted the Amy Winehouse piece in the center of Amsterdam, which went viral globally. Things took off afterwards as her projects took her around the globe, from Europe to Asia, and enabled her live off of her income as an artist.
Combined with the conceptual elements, JDL’s work also largely revolves around craftsmanship. Realistic murals on big buildings is a big part of her motivation and interest.
