Harriet van Reek

Netherlands

Harriet van Reek made her book debut in 1986 with ‘De Avonturen van Lena Lena’. Since then, she’s worked on a wide variety of art projects, often in collaboration with Geerten Ten Bosch. Harriet has received many awards for her work over the years, including the Gouden Griffel, the Gouden Penseel and Zilveren Penseel awards.

In this post, Harriet talks about several of her books, including her latest publication ‘Het dierenboekje Mie’ (The animal booklet Mie), and her stunning picturebooks which focus on letters and handwriting. She also shares fascinating insights into her creation process.

Visit Harriet van Reek’s website

Harriet: Let me tell you something about the book that I just handed in to the publishing house Querido: ‘Het dierenboekje Mie’ (The animal booklet Mie). It’s a gentle book; there’s a lot of lazing around. A bit of lying down, a bit of stroking, licking, and caressing. Nothing special. It’s like a counter-reaction to the rush and constant requirements. I wanted to draw attention to the senses and the adventure of touching, feeling, hearing, and looking closely. Presenting ordinary things in a different way, allowing you to actually see them again, with a surprised look.

I had also been looking for a more ecocentric approach, based on empathy and respect for animals and nature.

Before I knew exactly where I wanted to be, in language and image, I went on a search. It’s kind of like peeling until you get to the pit. It started with two different leporellos, the first of which I got rid of because I thought it was all nonsense, and the second I got rid of because I thought it was too boring, too romantic, too soft.

During the first lockdown, in April 2020, I found the right approach. I first wrote the text and then drew the book on a drawing tablet, a Cintiq. I had never done that before. Until that point, I worked on paper, with watercolour, coloured pencil, a drawing pen, and ink.

The most difficult thing for me is to be free. To find freedom. Finding openings to the imagination, to language. The wheel has to be reinvented over and over again. This also makes creating a new book challenging. It’s like a complicated game, having to find the secret rules of the game to solve the riddle.

The idea must be good and the text must be good. The subject of the book must have a certain urgency and meaning. So it’s always a matter of waiting for something like this to arise. I don’t want to just make something up.

Another topic I’ve worked on before is letters and handwriting. Handwriting seems to be lost in our keyboard society. I created two books on this subject. First, there was ‘Letterdromen met Do’ (Letterdreams with Do). I turned the letters into living beings. They come to life by themselves, if you write by hand.

The letters challenge you to create stories with them, simply because of their shape. This way, I hoped to lure the reader towards the letter and to be carried away by it myself as well.

After Letterdreams with Do, I made another book about letters. This time, there was a strong emphasis on writing and the personal expression which is possible through handwriting: ‘Lettersoep’ (Letter Soup).

The main character is an L, he lives in a T, together with a P, a cat. There are all kinds of puns in the text and the images, which makes the book, just like ‘Letter Dreams with Do’, difficult or perhaps impossible to translate. The book also covers various professions that are either dying out or are a craft.

I actually like the sketches more than the final work. I often think, “why did I go this far, I was already there.”

It usually takes several years between one book and the other. In the meantime, I do other things. I sometimes spend my time creating ceramics, freehand drawing, or weaving.

Along with Geerten Ten Bosch, I create visual theatre and performance. In this photo, we’re performing actions on a few spectators. The aim of our work is always to stimulate the viewer’s imagination in an associative way.

We also created an experimental picturebook together.

‘Ei! Ei!’ (Egg! Egg!) was made by cutting out drawings and merging them into new images through collage. It’s very nice to alternate solitary work with working on projects together.

I like antique Japanese ghost stories drawn on book scrolls, the Yokai-ga, Jockum Nordström’s ‘children’s’ picturebooks about Sailor and Pekka, and I love 19th century picturebooks.

Furthermore, I wish the studio Fotokino in Marseille was located in Rotterdam, my home town, because of the exhibitions and the attention they have for illustration and art.

Walking along coasts and through fields helps me to think about a book, and I am always looking for a place where I can work in peace for a few months, somewhere outside, far from the hectic city. (If you know any places, I’d love to hear about them.)

I hope I was able to inspire you with my contribution and thanks for reading!