Sophie De Zutter

Sophie De Zutter (1979) is a Belgian artist working with handmade paper, clay and natural pigment. She makes her own paper using traditional papermaking techniques, learned through the transmission of the craft, and builds abstract reliefs and wall works from it. A member of IAPMA, the International Association of Papermakers & Paper Artists, she has exhibited in Belgium and abroad: the solo show Paper in Harmony (Bob Manders Art Space, Oisterwijk, 2023); duo shows Stillness, Emotions and Serenity with Galerie OYAT (Hardelot, France); group shows in Brussels, Amsterdam, Knokke and Hasselt; and with The Lane at international art fairs including New York, Battersea, Vienna and Hamburg. Her work is held in private collections in Belgium and abroad.

Her materials are raw and few — paper, clay, pigment. She makes the paper herself, then lets it lead: worked wet and pressed, folded and drawn out, the surface is allowed to crack, shift and keep its own marks. Nothing is forced; the work is arrived at slowly, in layers, and the trace of that time stays visible in the relief.

The palette stays close to the materials — earthy, restrained, with quiet shifts of tone — and the compositions are minimal, an ode to simplicity. What the work asks of the viewer is patience: to read a raised edge, the fall of light across a crack, the small differences tone by tone.

"I feel deep gratitude when the material reveals itself," she says, "when it cracks, shifts, and leaves its own marks." Hers is a practice built on listening to the material rather than controlling it.