Suzanne Vellema has long explored the relationship between presence, longing, humanity, and the ineffable, with the horse initially serving as an important carrier of these themes.

Working with materials such as horsehair, textiles, straw, photography, and objects, she creates works in which the tangible and the intangible meet. Her practice moves between craftsmanship and contemplation, where material is not merely a carrier of meaning but acquires a presence of its own.

Inspired by both the tradition of the Old Masters and contemporary material-based art, Vellema investigates how the visible can point toward a reality that cannot be fully grasped. Within her work, presence and absence, vulnerability and strength, silence and longing converge.

Her work invites the viewer to slow down and pay attention. Not to provide answers, but to create space for wonder, stillness, and the experience that there may be more present than what immediately reveals itself.