Drawing a Sailor

In April 2025, artist Kri­s­tof Van Hee­sch­vel­de was invited to make use of an abandoned shop premises in Ghent. Insead of installing his studio there, he opened up its doors and invited everyone to come to pop in for a drawing session. Anyone who liked could step into the old shop, take a seat and drawing material and start drawing. In the middle of the shop Van Heeschvelde placed the bust of a sailor, Koos Van der Kaaij (1899–1976), which he once had purchased at an auction.
Participants could join in without any having any drawing skills or any expectations. The shop was transformed into a space to leave behind the hustle and bustle of daily life, pick up a crayon and paper, take some free coffee and biscuits and start drawing, togehter with people that hadn’t met eachother before.

Dra­wing A Sai­lor, a social-participatory drawing project, proved to be a great success.
Many passers-by, children, neighbours and tourists enjoyed spending time together, drawing, looking and being in the company of a sailor.
A total of 268 unique drawings were created and each drawing was exhibited on the walls of the former shop.
This collective moment was captured in a book, which aside from a short introduction text shows alle the drawings. The book was presented at Kunsthal Gent (Belgium) with a talk with the artist, the graphic designer and sea chanties on accordeon.