Silence = Violence | Group exhibition

More information 

Critical voices are being suppressed worldwide, from authoritarian regimes to countries like the Netherlands, where even symbols such as a watermelon are labelled as extremist in the political climate.

The exhibition, curated by Joyce Overheul for DeLOODS, showcases works by artists who cannot speak freely in their country of origin. Some participate under an alias or remain anonymous for their safety and artistic freedom.

Silence is a powerful tool of power. In many countries, people remain silent out of self-protection, causing countless voices to be silenced through censorship.

This exhibition breaks that silence. The artists refuse to portray violence, war, and oppression unilaterally. Their work speaks because silence equates to consent. Their voices must be heard in the fight for freedom of expression.

Information about the artist
Joyce Overheul (1989, 's-Hertogenbosch, NL) grew up in an environment where it was not self-evident that women were treated equally to men. Driven by her sense of justice, she has always been politically interested in issues such as women’s rights, emancipation, feminism, and activism, and Overheul now creates art around these themes.

More broadly, Overheul is interested in how human behaviour develops and how we influence each other. Overheul creates textile artworks, often based on photography. She works extensively with craft techniques that were long dismissed as typical women’s hobbies and leisure activities.

She combines this with politically charged themes related to women’s rights, emancipation, and feminism, creating a stark contrast between the direct content and the soft material.

In 2021, Waanders Kunst published the book ‘Let’s Get Political’ about the first ten years of her artistic career.

About the artist initiative DeLOODS
The artist initiative DeLOODS is located in the hall of De Loods, an artist complex in the old paper processing factory on Scheldestraat in Breda. DeLOODS is a place where artists can raise questions regarding presentation within their own practice. The hall specifically lends itself to this, as it is the space where all the ateliers of De Loods are located, and where artists can meet each other. DeLOODS encourages artists to organise themselves and work together in this way to improve the artistic climate in the city.

Participating artists
Airco Caravan (NL/US), Khaled Chujaa (Syria/NL), Marit Otto (NL), Ahmed Aldaalsa (Gaza), Anonymous Artist (US), David C. Terry (US/Germany), Eugenia Grammenou (Greece), Matthijs Hannink (NL), Natalia Grezina (Ukraine/NL), Hanif Bahari (Iran/Sweden), Kian Moradi (Iran/NL), Soodeh Karimi (Iran/Turkey), Miss Bunny (Hong Kong/NL), Festa del Bastardino (NL), K_D (Ghana)