A few years ago I was asked to contribute to the Mental Health Art Tour in the Netherlands. The idea was simple: make conversations about mental health more accessible. Bring them out of the therapy room and into public space. I said yes immediately, because I had been doing something close to that in my studio for years without calling it that.
I call them soul portraits. They are portrait designs that do not try to capture what someone looks like. They try to capture who someone is, in a broader sense of the word. They tell as story about the strength they carry. The things that do not show up in a photograph.
What a soul portrait actually Is
When I portray someone, I am not working from a brief, I work from their essence. What they have been through. What they are still carrying and what they have already put down, an the talent they bring to this world.
The result is layered, literally and emotional. A soul portrait is not necessary a flattering image. It is an honest one. And for many people, being seen honestly, without filters, is the thing they needed without knowing they needed it.
Why art opens doors that words cannot
Talking about mental health is hard. For many people it still feels like admitting something is wrong. But standing in front of a portrait of someone you admire, someone who has shared their story through art and audio, something different happens. The conversation starts quietly.
That is what the Mental Health Art Tour understood. And it is what I believe art can do at its best: not explain, not instruct, but create space. Space to feel something. Space to recognise yourself in someone else. Space to breathe. Space to be yourself.
Commissioning a soul portrait
If you are drawn to the idea of a soul portrait, whether for yourself or someone you love, I create them on commission. Each one is unique, built from inuition,
Email us if you would like to explore what that could look like.
