FBVG
FBVG (Eindhoven, 1961) is a graphic designer and visual artist based in Amsterdam. Graduated at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 1993 in graphic design. Since 1997 working as a designer at NRC Handelsblad. She started painting in 2000; since 2009 painting women who had been raped, first small, from 2013 on bigger paintings, calling them Faces of Rape. Since 2022 also working with ceramics to create a monument for the sexually abused.
︎︎︎FBVG’s website
︎︎︎FBVG’s website
‘’SAAC is a very safe place for artists who have been sexually abused under the age of 18. It feels great to be together, without having to explain anything. Little has to be said aloud, we understand each other, and naturally support each other.’’
Faces of Rape
Faces of Rape: Faces of Rape are paintings of women who had
been raped and shared their story in the media. The first one she found in the
newspaper, a woman from Pakistan, she had been gangraped and was so brave to
speak up and write a book about it. Having experienced rape herself and knowing
how hard it is to talk about it, FBVG admired her, and decided to paint her,
also to make the subject more discussable.
Many more paintings followed, in January 2020 there were 38, and they were on show in Loods 6 in Amsterdam. FBVG made a catalog of all the paintings and the stories of the women, in Dutch and English.
In that year she also started to paint men in this series. Since she joined SAAC, she has been portraying members of the group. There are 52 Faces of Rape now, the last 9 are also Faces of SAAC. There are more to come.
Many more paintings followed, in January 2020 there were 38, and they were on show in Loods 6 in Amsterdam. FBVG made a catalog of all the paintings and the stories of the women, in Dutch and English.
In that year she also started to paint men in this series. Since she joined SAAC, she has been portraying members of the group. There are 52 Faces of Rape now, the last 9 are also Faces of SAAC. There are more to come.
The Monument
In 2012 FBVG made a painting about a monument for the sexually abused. It showed the part of the body that had been stolen from her. In 2021, joining SAAC, she mentioned it in the meetings and got enthusiastic reactions. Everybody liked the idea of a monument. She made the same painting again, but in a different style, and went to ceramics class to turn the 2D image into a 3D monument. She made 3 big proposals, and 13 small ones, which are the children’s monuments. The big ones are supposed to be so high that one can easily walk under it, and look up to the damaged parts. The big red one has 2 round holes on top, so there can be daylight in the monument. It also has 2 doors, so people can enter and scratch their own story in the walls.
Now a bigger monument has been made, with these same features, 81 cm of height, with support of the AFK (Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst). The idea is that this monument will be 7 meters high in the future, standing outside somewhere, in a city, near green surroundings. Maybe Amsterdam Noord has such a place. And wouldn’t it be great if every city has such a monument? There are so many people who have been sexually abused, wouldn’t it be comforting to have such a place to visit whenever you want?
The group came up with the idea to make many small ones, sell them to people who have been abused, let them place it where it’s meaningful, photograph it, and upload the picture to the SAAC website. So a worldwide map of people who have been abused (under 18) might be created. FBVG is realising this plan. For this purpose, a mold has been made from one of the small monuments, and this one has been multiplied many times. These small monuments are called “The Kids Monument”, and they are for sale in the museum shop of Het Nieuwe Domein, for 75 euro, during the SAAC exhibition “I Think U Did Something To Me And Now It’s In Everything I See And Do”, from 18 February - 18 May 2025. For more info please contact FBVG.art
