As a child unfortunately  I did not have the opportunity to go to art school. This was not just that. I grew up in an art hating environment and was teached that ‘all art in the world should be destroyed” – can you imagine that?  So, I was prohibited to be creative or express myself and the indoctrination was heavy.

It took many years to get free from this and at age thirty I started drawing and painting and I liked it! I wanted to go to school, because that was what I missed a lot in childhood. 

During my life, in my country going to art academy is also privileged. So, being self taught I used my creativity to discover aspects of my gender and identity,to  process, portray and heal. In the past five years, I made about a thousand drawings and paintings, besides of mosaic, objects and my sketchbooks. I published almost the entire collection on the internet on my personal blog called groenejimmy.

Than, finally, this year 2024,  in our neighbor country there’s the opportunity to go to art  academy! I’m so grateful, I’m 62 now and finally my dream of becoming an artist in later life might come true. So always keep dreaming about a better future!

Artist Statement
My childhood was very unusual, in such way that I wrote two autobiographical books on this, published in 2020 and 2021. The harsh thing was, everything was setup by policy, in such way that they tried to transform my origins, gender and ‘self’ as a child. The complex consequences are depicted in the many drawings. I gave some talks on my experiences, and now I try to use creativity to make beautiful things. I admire the way Vincent van Gogh could accomplish this!

-Jimmy Groen