Valentijn Schmitz

Vestures of Faggotry

Before Valentijn Schmitz started their studies at Maastricht Institute of Arts, they worked as a cleaner. From this background, they developed an interest in the stories and perspectives of people who are often ignored or forgotten. The search for connection and a sense of community is therefore a recurring central theme within Valentijn their work. Like the cleaners at the art academy, they too felt like an outsider growing up. The femme queen they needed to be was encountered with a lot of misunderstanding.  Where this used to have a negative, dismissive connotation to them, it is now the main reason why they want to create these moments. For they suggest authentic conversations, both verbal and non-verbal, between the artist, the visitors and the space.

Valentijn Schmitz makes vestures because they feel the importance of sharing what it means to claim space as a queer body. The audience can wear the vestures to experience this without the margins of ones self. Within this state of dress and undress, new rituals come alive.