Nina Vandeweghe shares a sneak peek of Atelier in beeld: ‘The studio is the engine behind the result.’

‘I sometimes use Martha Nussbaum’s term transitional anger to describe my work: a form of anger that goes beyond revenge and leads to constructive action. It functions as a signal that something is fundamentally wrong, not as a desire to cause harm. That anger is a key driving force in my work, particularly when I am questioning political or institutional systems.

In the first few years after graduating, I worked as an illustrator, but now I am once again primarily a painter, sculptor and writer. As an illustrator, my style was strongly illustrative and figurative. It still is, but in a different way. I try to make my visual language less illustrative without letting go of it entirely. At the same time, my work has become increasingly activist.

I combine ceramics, painting, textiles and text. Ceramics found their way into my practice rather by chance two years ago. A friend enrolled at the academy in Anderlecht and asked if I’d join her. I figured it would be a win-win: a new hobby and an afternoon a week spent together. However, the medium turned out to fit perfectly with my work and quickly became a fully-fledged part of my practice. Recently, I’ve also taken to working with text. Writing down ideas gives me structure and helps me find the right words for my work.