I grew up in forced social isolation in  the Dutch  youth care system,  that tried to erase all aspects  of my origin, gender and  identity permanently. With my boyhood  denied to me, it shaped a lifelong search for the parts of myself I was never allowed to explore.

Art became the place where I could reclaim something of my own. Since 1992, I’ve been drawing and painting from instinct — fragments of memory, imagined boyhood, and the inner worlds that grew in isolation. My work moves between personal themes and broader subjects like landscapes, nature, the Arab world, climate change, and microscopic environments. These shifts allow me to breathe, to look outward as well as inward.

I work in series, using repeated symbols, colors, and figures to build layers of meaning. Mixed media gives me the freedom to create contrasts that reflect the tension between what was taken from me and what I continue to rebuild. My art is not only about trauma; it is also about persistence, imagination, and the stubborn act of creating a self where one was once denied.