All we’ve been and all we’re becoming

Katja Jacobs, engraved tear, 2024. Photo courtesy of the artist

Opening Event: 05.03, Thu 18:00-21:00;
Artist Talk: 06.03, Fri 18:00-19:30
Event Duration: 05-08.03.2026, Thu-Sun, 12:00-18:00

All we’ve been and all we’re becoming is an exhibition that brings together five jewellery artists who met during their studies at Sint Lucas Antwerp. The project focuses on how childhood experiences, environments and early fascinations continue to shape their artistic identities today. Each maker looks back at the formative details such as objects, worlds, stories and habits that quietly but unmistakably influenced who they are and what they create.

The exhibition presents jewellery as a lens through which these influences reappear. Some artists reconnect with physical memories of movement, discipline or play. Others revisit early exposure to textiles, nature, visual media or digital worlds. What began as instinctive childhood interests has grown into personal visual languages, recurring themes and artistic methods. Their work shows how these early impressions still resonate, evolve and inform their creative choices.

At the same time, the project acknowledges that they are in a moment of transition. They are no longer students but emerging makers who are navigating what comes next. The title reflects this duality. It is shaped by everything they have been in the past while also pointing toward the new directions they are growing into.

The exhibition approaches childhood not as nostalgia but as an active force. It remains a foundation that continues to influence materials, forms, imagination and sensibility. All we’ve been and all we’re becoming explores how five artists carry their earliest inspirations into the present and how these continue to take shape in contemporary jewellery.