HEALING

This series started in 2018 as research after ‘skin tone’ bandages, mostly pink/beige. Brown and black bandages were hard to find. Only after the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and the worldwide Black Lives Matter protests, companies started to realize it was time to change their white policies.

HEALING USA 2024

Dedicated to Sonya Massey who was brutally shot to death by the police in her own home for no reason in Springfield, Illinois after she called 911 herself on July 6, 2024. The cop who shot her, Sean Grayson, is charged with murder in the first degree. This should not have happened. Justice for Sonya, say her name. Stop police brutality. Heal the country.

700 skin tone bandaids, 23 ft (7m) kinesiology tape, 24x48"/61x122cm, 2024

On view at Healers and Dreamers, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN, November 1 - February 15, 2025

Installation view Lubeznik Art Center, Michigan City, IN.

Installation view at Into Action 2024, the huge pop-up gallery intersecting arts, culture, and the power of voting, during the DNC in Chicago.

Collecting brown and black bandages in 2024 was a lot easier than it used to be in 2018-2020.

HEALING GAZA

Israel, the country that is committing genocide on the people of Gaza, starvation, illness, killing children, medics, press, civilians, everyone. Destroying all buildings, hospitals, schools, universities. Murdering people waiting in line to get food, bombing people in ‘safe’ zones, and shooting small children, like Hind Rajab, who was killed with 335 bullets after they killed her family and the first responders who came to rescue her. The terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, was the start of this horrific massacre and ethnic cleansing 80% of Gaza was destroyed, an estimated 200,000 deaths (Dec. 2024). And the whole world is watching…. I’m losing my faith in humanity.

HEALING GAZA, FREE PALESTINE

From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free. From the Sea to the River, Palestine will Live Forever! Maybe some people don’t feel comfortable hearing the slogan. Well, I don’t feel comfortable with the genocide in Gaza and the zionist settlers killing people in the West Bank. Palestinians and Jews can live together in harmony and equality. That’s the meaning of this slogan. This piece is dedicated to all Palestinians. Part of the proceeds will go to Gaza.

450 skin tone bandaids, 18x36"/46x92cm, 2024.

HEALING USA 2020

HEALING USA

On August 24, 2020, after countless Black Lives Matter protests worldwide, 29-year-old Jacob Blake got shot in the back 7 times by the police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He survived but is in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Trump has caused the United States to be less and less 'united'. Alt-right, white supremacy, racism, anti-black police violence, the killing of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Daunty Wright, and many more, armed militias, storming of the US Capitol... Joe Biden and Kamala Harris became president and vice president. Will the Stars and Stripes ever be a symbol of unity again? Joe Biden promised to usher in ‘A Time To Heal’.

More than 600 bandaids and 5 meters of kinesiology tape on canvas, 22x49" (65x125cm), 2020

Healing USA II, 260 bandaids, 12x20 inches (30x50 cm), 2020

HEALING HISTORY, HEALING AMSTERDAM

A symbol for Amsterdam's apology for its slave history, officially announced on July 1, 2021, on Keti Koti, the day of remembrance and celebration of the abolition of slavery in the Dutch colonies Surinam and the Antilles in 1863/1873.

More than 1800 skin tone bandaids from different brands from the USA, UK, and the Netherlands, 59x39" (150x100 cm), 2021

Healing History, Healing Amsterdam, study
65 skin tone bandaids, 9.5x7" (24x18cm), 2021

HEALING UK

On September 17, 2021, teacher Sabina Nessa was brutally attacked and killed close to her home in London. This happened only a few months after the death of Sarah Everard in March. Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens falsely arrested Sarah under the pretense of having breached COVID-19 regulations and drove her to near Dover where he raped and strangled her, burned her body, and dumped her in a nearby pond. The case sparked widespread debate about the safety of women and girls in the UK.

105 bandages on canvas, 7x9.5" (18x24cm), 2021

HEALING LGBTQIA+

Intersex Progress Pride Flag. 200+ skin tone bandages by various inclusive brands from the US, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, on linen, 12x20” (30x50cm). @bandaid @healincolour @browndages @hansaplast.nl @ukskindeep and Ebon-Aide.

Visitor vreer taking pictures. Exhibition Made in Dolland, curated by artist and activist Dolly Bellefleur, on view in 2022. Drag queen and human rights activist Dolly Bellefleur is famous for her huge white wigs and her more than stunning legs.

PRIDE LEGS, 2022. 6 Pretty Polly(Dolly) skin-tone tights in 6 shades, on linen, 12x20” (30x50cm).

UNITED LEGS OF DOLLAND, 68 legs, from pink to brown, 8x8x8” (20x20x20cm) 2022

Special edition art book by our art collective. ‘A flat exhibition’, 168 pages, 25 artists, book launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020

HUMAN CAMOUFLAGE, digital art, 2020

HEALING

I started this painting in the first week of May 2020, only 14 days before George Floyd was killed. And now we need more healing than ever. Hopefully, the Black Lives Matter movement will result in less anti-black police violence and new policies to end racism.

Oil on raw linen, 27x24” (70x60cm), 2020

My quest for black and brown skin tone bandages started in 2018, looking for Ebon-Aide. A New York entrepreneur, Michael Panayiotis created Ebon-Aide in 1998. The orange box read: "The bandage exclusively designed for people of color," and they came in shades called black licorice, coffee brown, cinnamon, and honey beige. It wasn’t a success because Walmart and Rite Aid placed the boxes in the wrong shelves. So ‘flesh color’ still means soft pink/beige. In 2021, more than 100 (!!) years after the 'flesh colored', 'invisible', 'match your skin' band-aids were invented by Johnson & Johnson, they launched ‘OURTONE’ Band-Aid in three shades of brown to "embrace the beauty of diverse skin". It’s about f***ing time.