Fleur Huijsdens

During the past year, I surrounded myself with different kinds of cats. By overloading myself with my favorite animal, the cat, I wanted to explore whether it could help combat my winter depression - and it did!

My graduation project is a series of classical portraits using cats, which began after my cat Mojo passed away. As the project progressed, I discovered that portraying other people's cats was part of my grieving process. I lost something very precious when Mojo passed away; he gave me love and joy.

The project focuses on the human relationship with cats, a relationship that, throughout history, has gone through many changes. Adored and worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, to being feared by Medieval Europeans. These days, cats are once again one of our favorite companions.

This collection of portraits depicts a broad spectrum of emotions, but are they the genuine emotions of the portrayed cats? By portraying cats based on human archetypes, such as the nutty professor, the old neighbor, or the crying Maria, I discovered how humans tend to project their emotions onto these animals. We would like to believe that we understand what our pet is feeling. We see different emotions, but let's be honest, are there any?