Biography

Dekker received her MFA from Rijksakademie, Amsterdam in 1990 after a BFA in Sculpture from the Academy of Arts St. Joost, Breda (the Netherlands), graduating cum laude. She continued her artistic development in Milan (Italy) at the Artist in Residence “la Casa degli Artisti”, founded by Luciano Fabro and Hidetoshi Nagasawa. In Milan she dropped across more ‘legends’ of the Arte Povera Group like Mario Merz, Jannis Kounellis and Gilberto Zorio.

 Using embroidery Dekker initiated a series of installations and performances on the theme of ‘Waiting’, because in the end, that is what embroidery is about. Her works were exhibited in various galleries and museums in the Netherlands and Italy, among others gallery Nouvelles Images in Den Hague, museum ‘de Lakenhal’ in Leiden, the museum for contemporary art Palazzo Fabroni in Pistoia (It), the Civic museums in Trevi and Bevagna (It), Castello di Rivara (It), gallery Schema in Carmignano (It), gallery Dryphoto in Prato (It) and well known non profit art spaces in the Netherlands and Italy such as “het Hooghuis” in Arnhem, “de Paraplufabriek” in Nijmegen, “Spazio D’A” in Empoli (It).

 Two years after the dead of her father Connie started to embroider his child-like drawings, done during the last period of his life, on sheets and pillows. Unable to work in his garden, he used to sit on the couch by the window drawing anything he saw or was thinking of.

“When someone dies, all small things disappear and so do all small memories connected to them”… “the big history lies down in books but the small history is very fragile” (Boltanski)

The embroideries were shown in art venues as the “Consortium” in Amsterdam, gallery Gentili in Florence (It) and the museum for contemporary art MAC’N in Monsummano Terme (It).

 During a stay in Tokyo, Dekker began to draw her own experiences to make her Japanese friend understand the way she felt about life in Japan. From 2006 she publishes parts of the “My Japanese Family” diaries on her website. This summer she presented the printed digital drawings at the International Center for Contemporary Art, Sala Uno in Rome.

Website

Statement

 “Thank you Connie. I always know that it will be a great day when it starts with your Japanese family. Love, Cait”