The boardroom of the Haagse Kunstkring is currently hosting an exhibition of works by Olga Grig, a conceptual artist and illustrator.

Grig studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague and has since participated in exhibitions, residencies, and collaborative projects, both in the Netherlands and abroad.

Her work focuses on psychological depth and inner processes, as well as on the way in which the individual relates to social structures. Grig translates these themes into a symbolic and expressive visual language, in which images function as visual metaphors rather than as direct illustrations of a subject.

Her practice straddles the line between autonomous art and applied illustration. In doing so, she regularly seeks out editorial contexts, creating work for publications in the fields of philosophy, psychology, poetry, and socially engaged themes.

This dual focus—between the autonomous image and the commissioned work—gives her work a sharpness that stems from the need to communicate an idea without losing its symbolic meaning.

Every person carries their own story: desires, memories, fears, strength, and vulnerability. We readily diagnose the body, but much less often the soul. What makes us human? Our strength or our vulnerability? Love or fear? The past or the future? Perhaps, in the end, there is only one diagnosis: being human.