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The Dress & Jeu des Aide-Mémoires

On this page, I write about the origins,

‘the concept,’

and further developments of the artwork The Dress

that I have been calling ‘Jeu des Aide-Mémoires’ since 2026.

I began this during

an artist-in-residence period,

in Andalusia, Spain, in 2025

“My memory is wearing a dress today”

This sentence is strange.

In any case, as far as I know,

my memory resides within my body.

And sometimes the body wears a dress,

or pants or an apron. Why do I want this?

Why do I sometimes feel uncomfortable

and sometimes festive in a dress?

Why do I want to use the form of a dress

to make a subtle statement?

Because I was born with female

organ systems

and raised as a woman?

Why did the image of a dress

with a long veil come into my mind in Spain?

Why in this place?

I am trying to figure this out through this drawing process,

through performances and accompanying research.

From rolling to unrolling, from a smooth surface

to the leporello folding phase of the drawing.

In a sense, the drawing process

began as a kind of daily journal in June 2025

Notes on things that occupy my mind,

such as ways of thinking, language use,

the attraction of forms of degeneration

and, at the same time, the forms that sparkle with life energy.

It is mid-June 2025

I had been drawing for a week, (soaking up

Andalusian nature and culture)

on a 10-meter-long sheet of paper (unrolled on a table),

For practical reasons (?!)

I began folding the drawing every 10 cm

after a week.

After a few days, I let go of the chronological order of the daily drawings

with date notes.

Now I noted and painted daily

wherever I found it appropriate.

In doing so, the folds formed obstacles

to “boundless” drawing.

I tried to ignore the folds

by pressing them flat and

writing and drawing over them.

And the result of the emergence

of the long accordion shape

was a change in the characteristics

of the paper as a whole.

When rolled, the paper was entirely

adapted to curves,

to its curl when unrolled.

Now folded, the long sheet

took on entirely different characteristics.

It became both stiff and flexible at the same time.

This unexpected quality

triggered a chain reaction

of associations.

It is compact when folded,

looks like a promise linked

to a longing,

like when looking at a peacock

whom you know

will eventually

spread its feathers,

so I got an associative cinematic image

of the unfolding

of a long train of a wedding dress.

I experienced the coexistence of a longing

for showiness and an aversion to it

As I played with the possibilities

of the large fold, adding (commentary) notes

that felt like an almost living object-body,

I also thought of a caterpillar,

but because of a certain draping,

I increasingly thought of a white wedding dress.

I wondered what factors influenced

this specific association.

The physical, the earthly,

the patriarchal masculine and feminine traditions,

which are omnipresent

in the culture of Andalusia,

triggered a flood of

personal memories

while I was attending a Catholic procession

in a neighbouring village.

I wanted to do something with this insight and inspiration.

The residency was almost over, and immediately afterward

an exhibition was scheduled

in the neighbouring village where I had already brought work

from the Netherlands.

The new artwork,

which I had tentatively titled “The Dress,”

I wanted to “unveil” in phases.

I hadn’t even tried “the dress” on yet.

I didn’t yet know

all the (alluring and repulsive) qualities of the garment.

To get to know this new work

and explore my associations with “the dress,”

I took it with me, folded up,

to a nearby village called Corteconcepcíon.

To get closer to my memories of it, I wanted to visit a church.

The ‘Iglesia de la Corteconcepcíon’ was closed.

So, at the church portal, I hung ‘The Dress’

on the key (which wouldn’t turn)

in the door lock, and from there draped the train over the steps

and tried to coordinate my movements

with the elegant, fanning motions of a wedding dress

The next phase of my encounter

with “The Dress” took place

during the opening of the exhibition

“Brota el Pueblo” around the second church

of Corteconcepcíon.

In the Ermita de San Juan, I placed “The Dress”—

folded and placed in a case,

like a document bearing a promise of longing—

on the back pew.

During the evening opening of “Brota el Pueblo,”

the villagers and visitors

visited the various temporary art sites around and inside the church.

After the church closed for the evening,

the exhibition had ended, and everyone

in the church square turned their attention back to each other, food, and drink,

I brought “the promise” outside and fulfilled the desire

by theatrically unfolding the leporello

across the church square.

The day’s notes now lay literally on the street,

visible to everyone,

dressed up in ‘art’ with colorfully painted abstractions

on ‘virgin’ white paper.

The villagers and exhibition visitors

viewed it with apparent indifference

from the café tables across from the church.

This effect—of attention and shift in focus—in mind,

I took it with me to The Hague for further reflection.

Thoughts and Associations

My association with the dress refers to experiences of womanhood,

the daily notes to the need

to gather and retain knowledge.

And the daily drawings refer

to the cyclical nature of life.

I see the dress as a meaningful enveloping

of a body with a memory,

which also undergoes aging

after having once been worn.

A precious memory of a bygone era.

The remnant, an empty shell, after the former living body

has vanished from it, now yearns for a transformation.

What kind of dress does my memory wear today?

A specific type of designed dress can be read

as a culturally determined, meaningful snapshot of the times.

The person who wraps themselves in it reveals themselves to others.

The spirit of the times reveals itself in fashion, role-playing, and rituals;

a dress takes on meaning

to mark a high point in life.

Thus, the dress becomes a christening gown, a communion dress,

a Sunday dress, a wedding dress, a ball gown,

or evening gown, a mourning dress.

(not necessarily in this order and not just once)

Thus, it becomes linked in memory to hope,

promise, comfort, and the expectations of a culture.

Is work still being done on the dress and memory?

What will the dress of my memory look like tomorrow?

Will my memory still need a dress then?

Or does the dress need ongoing testimonies to live on as a garment?

The garment is called art. The play with garments needs help from memories.

2026 Art residence Het Lage Noorden, The Netherlands

In March 2026, I took “The Dress”

which I now call Aide-Mémoires

to a new place I had never been to before.

I wanted to supplement my memory aid

with notes about new experiences.

I also wanted to explore the playful possibilities.

That is how ‘Jeu des Aides-Mémoires’ came about.

Het Lage Noorden is an artist-in-residence program,

located in the north of the province

of Friesland, and has a very different climate

and, consequently, culture than the Sierra de Aracena in

Andalusia.

I was curious to see what the Wadden Sea region would inspire.

Studio view at Het lage Noorden

Jeu des Aides-Mémoires, Video stills

Location: Het Lage Noorden, Friesland, The Netherlands Erf 2026

Detail workproces in Andalusië june 2025

Details with additions following the return from a.i.r.Arteventura to the studio in The Hague in 2025

Detail with additions, a.i.r. Het lage Noorden 2026

To be continued…