1000 steps
Vera Romijn (1993) investigates the relationship between humans and objects in her work, with a focus on overconsumption and the role material things play in our lives. In her artistic practice, she questions how one can justify their own purchasing behavior in a time when too many products are already being produced.
In her recent work, she focuses on the aesthetics and abundance of cosmetic products. She recreates them on paper, enlarges, deforms, and crumples them. The large, distorted packages together form an enormous wall where the viewer is overwhelmed by excess. Paper as a medium plays an important role; it offers a contrast to the smooth, hard plastic one associates with cosmetic packaging. By mimicking details such as ingredient lists, she creates alienation—the objects remain recognizable but lose their original function and context.
Her fascination lies in the influence of marketing and design on our purchasing behavior and our identity. In her work, she raises questions about mass consumption: to what extent do we truly have a connection with the products we buy, and to what extent is that relationship created by the industry? By literally surrounding the viewer with enlarged, distorted cosmetic packaging, she invites reflection on the role of consumption in our daily lives and our own role in the use of cosmetics.