Nola’s Change

Renée Koldewijn | Nola’s Change | mixed media | 2017

Text Ellen de Vries, writer biography Nola. Portrait of a quirky artist. 

Renée Koldewijn has been following Dutch painter Nola Hatterman, since my biography and lecture about Nola in 2008. Koldewijn went looking for Nola’s footsteps in the Nola Hatterman Art Academy in Paramaribo and saw her house in the jungle in central Suriname. Koldewijn is inspired by Nola’s courage, empathy and involvement with the people of Suriname. Koldewijn made several works about Nola’s change in identity; her transition from a Dutch woman to a woman who felt black inside. Koldewijn processes paint, fabrics and photographs in her portraits of Nola.