I make abstract collages mainly with materials from (old) books. I want to highlight the beauty of materials and how they are affected by time. For example you will find the curling and fraying of the fabric, the jagged edges of torn paper and the stains and discolouration’s back in my work. My collages have a lot of texture and great tactile qualities. 

Much of my work is about ‘time’. How time acts on things, like paper. How time sometimes slips through our hands. In the ‘ a year in collages/366 collages in 2024’ project, I quite literally tried to capture a year in collages. I don't want to hang nostalgically on the past but want to deconstruct and reinterpret it.

My work is also increasingly about the meaning of the book and information in our time. For a long time, new information was processed in books. They were the carriers of important information. Some types of books like a dictionary, an encyclopaedia or an atlas are disappearing from our collective consciousness. Google has adopted all three of these formats. What is the meaning of a book anymore in this day and age? How long will we use books? Besides, I feel a great love for the craft of bookbinding, the tangible and personal nature of a book. My work is, I think, besides a question about the meaning, also an expression of my love for the book.

Janien Prummel lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. Wandering in and around the farm, during childhood in the Netherlands, shaped her preferences. Her affinity for old books, worn materials, objects with a (personal) history have their origins here. The texture and traces of time that become visible in the materials inspire her. Collage is her medium. 

Besides being a creative therapist, Janien (1963) also studied sculpture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. She did not pursue the path of sculpture. Finding her medium and visual language was a long process. She privately experimented with collage in (sketch) books. A safe place to further develop her visual language and confidence as an artist. Books still play an important role in her work as subject, material and medium. 

Art was and is constantly at the centre of her professional work activity as well. Janien has worked as a creative therapist and art educator in museums for the past 35 years. These experiences with visitors and art helped to shape her artist's eye and hand. 

Themes in her work are impermanence, vulnerability and especially how to deal with the past.