Annelies Slabbynck
At 17, Annelies Slabbynck embarked on an art education journey at the Academy of Fine Arts in Aalst (Belgium), specializing in Decorative Arts and Crafts for two years. Continuing her artistic pursuits, she pursued studies in ceramics at the Higher Institute of Visual Arts, Sint-Lucas in Ghent (Belgium).
Her first significant encounter with China occurred in 1997 when she spent four months at the Central Academy for Art and Design in Beijing. This experience marked the beginning of a period where she divided her time between Belgium and China, particularly Shanghai.
Since then, her textile/ceramic and mixed-media art has been showcased in various national and international galleries and museums. In June 2015, she returned permanently to Belgium, settling in her hometown of Ghent.
Her fascination with the complexity of the human body and its search for identity, creative inspirations are deeply rooted in her own life experiences and a keen interest in the historical facets of the medical as well as textile realms. Themes such as loss, sickness, birth, and death are delicately interwoven into intimate layers that permeate her artistic journey.
Annelies’ artwork primarily explores the female body and its intimate issues, ranging from clinical imperfections and diseases to questions of identity. Besides working with clay and wax, she is drawn to the aesthetics and simplicity of old (textile) objects, which, on one hand, reveal remnants of a bygone era and showcase remarkable craftsmanship. On the other hand, this manual labour embodies qualities of patience, rituals, and tradition that resonate with her, connecting directly to the universal aspects of the human condition across diverse cultures.
Selected solo shows
2021-2022 ‘REN’ ZNA Middelehim Nephrology Department (renal clinic) & Maternity ward ZNA Middelheim, Antwerp, Belgium
2019 ‘The ImPerfect Body’ Vilnius Academy of Arts VAA Textile gallery “Artifex”, Vilnius, Lithuania
2015 ‘A New (Im)mortality’ MIAT (Museum of Industry, Labor and Textile production), Ghent Belgium
2012 ‘The Art of Existence’; Frontline Contemporary Gallery, Shanghai, P.R. China
2008 ‘Intrude 366 Art&Life’; (Zendai Museum), Nobel Eye Hospital, Shanghai, P.R. China
Selected group shows
2024 ‘29th AEIMS Conference Anatomy & Beyond 2024’, The Old Operating Theatre Museum, London, UK
2023 ‘Vesalian Landscapes’ (Vesalius Continuum Triennial) Chapel at the Grauwzusters, Antwerp, Belgium
2021 ‘XII International Biennial of Textile Miniatures – Visiting Card’, ARKA Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania
2019 ‘Opulent Mobility’, Dora Stern Gallery – Arts Unbound, Orange, NJ, USA
2017 ‘Soft Sculpture – Hard Thoughts’, SULUJ Gallery, Belgrade, Serbia
2016 Art al Vent XIII; Contemporary textile art, Gata de Gorgos, Alicante, Spain
2015 ’curiosiTies’ Het Labo, Cumhuriyet Museum, Istanbul
2014 ’Open Doors’; Inauguração do Fórum Eugénio de Almeida, Evbora, Portugal
2014 ‘What if Objects Could Talk?’ OV Gallery; Shanghai, P.R.China
2012 CONTEXTILE 2012 – Contemporary Textile Art Triennial, Guimarães 2012, Portugal
2012 ‘From Lausanne to Beijing’ – 7th International Fiber Art Biennale Exhibition Nantong, Jiangsu Province, P.R. China
2011 ’SUAVE 4′, at Asociacion de Creadores Textiles de Madrid, Spain
2010 Miniartextil’…’e lucean le stelle…’, Museo di Palazzo Mocenigo S.Stae- Venice, Italy – Montrouge, France
2010 Design Biennale ‘Nature’, ‘Espace-Saint-Antoine’ of the ‘Musee de la Vie Wallonne’, Luik, Belgium
2008 ’From Lausanne to Beijing ’5th Intl. Biennale of Textile Art’, Beijing, P.R. China
2006 ‘Madness is Female’ (the Prinzhorn collection and contemporary female artists), Museum Dr. Guislain; Ghent, Belgium
2005 ‘MéTissages’; Art and Textile Biennale, MIAT, Ghent, Belgium
