Bianca Severijns is not your typical contemporary artist. Her canvas isn’t traditional, her brushes are unconventional, and her medium — paper — is both delicate and bold, offering an intricate platform for her creative expression. Severijns, born in the Netherlands and now based in Israel, has developed a unique visual language through paper, crafting it into complex, layered works that touch on profound human experiences and emotions. Her journey with paper is as much about personal exploration as it is about creating art that resonates on a universal level.
Severijns’ artistic journey began with a deep fascination for the natural world and its cycles. As she delved deeper into her work, her focus shifted from nature to the broader themes of human displacement and social issues. The medium of paper became an essential part of this exploration. “In my hands and between my fingers, paper feels like a superpower medium that enables me to convey my artistic vision with a mixture of seriousness with whimsy, abstract with the concrete, and the personal with the universal,” Severijns explains. This statement encapsulates her approach, blending contrasting elements to create a harmonious, thought-provoking body of work.
In my hands and between my fingers, paper feels like a superpower medium that enables me to convey my artistic vision with a mixture of seriousness with whimsy, abstract with the concrete, and the personal with the universal.
Severijns’ choice of paper as a medium is not arbitrary. The artist views paper as a material embodying dualities— fragility and strength, vulnerability and power.
“Paper is as vulnerable, fragile, and humble as a material, as it is strong, decisive, and powerful! For me, paper is a material that can be freely worked, with an unlimited amount of possibilities and challenges,” she says. This duality is reflected in her works, where hand-torn paper pieces are meticulously arranged into tapestries, murals, and reliefs that speak to the complexities of human experience.
Severijns’ exploration of displacement, a recurring theme in her work, draws from her own life experiences. Moving from the Netherlands to Israel was a significant and challenging transition, a voluntary uprooting that nonetheless came with its own set of difficulties. This experience of creating a new home in a foreign land laid the groundwork for her art, which often explores the themes of uprooting and re-rooting, both literally and metaphorically. Her early works focused on the natural cycles of displacement, drawing parallels between the stages of nature and human conditions such as forced migration and the search for belonging.
As a contemporary paper artist, my art is a physical representation of my ongoing reflective journey. It is paper art, molded by instinct and an intellect influenced by intuition.
As her work evolved, the artist began to delve deeper into the social implications of displacement, examining the fundamental needs of displaced people. This shift is particularly evident in her more recent works, such as those featured at the 2019 Venice Biennale in the “Personal Structures – Identities” exhibition. Here, she presented a wall installation of two large protective blankets, using them as metaphors to convey the basic human rights and needs for security, protection, and freedom. These blankets, constructed entirely of paper, were not just art pieces but powerful statements on the human condition.
“As a contemporary paper artist, my art is a physical representation of my ongoing reflective journey. It is paper art, molded by instinct and an intellect influenced by intuition,” she reflects. Each of her artworks begins with pristine white paper, which she then transforms into something entirely new — a process that mirrors life’s complexities and transformations.
Severijns’ art demonstrates the power of paper, capable of conveying deep emotion and complex ideas through its delicate yet resilient nature. Her work is a multi-dimensional adventure, one that invites viewers to explore not just the art itself, but the profound human experiences it represents. Through her paper art, Severijns continues to push boundaries, challenging our perceptions of both the medium and the message it carries.
All photos © Bianca Severijns