The monograph “STRENGTH vulnerability – Micky Hoogendijk, photography and sculpture” by Karin van Lieverloo, published by Waanders Uitgevers in 2022.

Affected by the Covid period and its global impact, Hoogendijk created her first series of sculptures in 2020. The Ones visualizes the connection between people. The stylized figures, individual or as a group, illustrate her ideas about individual strength, yet more specifically, her impression of the invisible dynamic between people. They are her tribute to humans seeking connection and shelter.

Hoogendijk:“I’ve called them The Ones because they are human figures who are connected to and support each other to become stronger themselves. We are all individuals, One, but we do not exist alone, therefore The Ones.”

With her recent expansion into bronze sculpture, the artist has found her visual language.
Micky Hoogendijk’s work is characterized by a lifelong desire to reflect her inner world and invite viewers to explore their own emotions and experiences, bridging individual and collective experiences of movement and stillness. She began by forming fragile clay shapes, reinforced with braided wire, mirroring the fragility of the human experience, and transformed these into bronze sculptures. The series, called ‘The Ones,’ ranges from large-scale public works to smaller, intimate pieces, symbolizing the human condition and life’s constant motion.

“The Ones refer to nothing but themselves. The absence of any detail gives them a stylised character, and the lack of personal features or any expression makes them timeless. The viewer can therefore readily identify with them. To Hoogendijk, it is important that The Ones should exist without her. “I think that’s a much more important process. That makes you a kind of ‘giver’ as an artist.” Her idea is that sculptures should be filled by the response of others.

In The Ones XXL Hoogendijk explores the possibility of creating larger-than-life sculptures that stand like giant sentinels by the sea or in a park. She hopes they will prompt encounters that both overwhelm and embrace, allowing people to become one with the sculpture.

Micky Hoogendijk has garnered both critical acclaim and commercial success with her new series of sculptures The Ones; inspired by the impact of Covid-19 on families. Her series were also commissioned as the award during the fCN Gassain Jewel Awards.