Tapestry on the loan system: “Big and massive, just like my student debt”

Tapestries that tell the stories of their time: they have been around for thousands of years – with her Bayeux Tapestry, about the battle of Hastings in 1066, as the most famous example. The illustrator Mart Veldhuis (1991) now adds one about a reality in 2023: the life of the so-called “unlucky student”.

The tapestry shows the lives of students who, since 2015, have often accumulated high debts under the student loan system. In February, the House of Representatives voted to restore the basic scholarship, which is expected to be introduced from the 2023/2024 academic year – the Senate will decide this summer. For the approximately 1 million students who have studied under the student loan system, the government has provided around 1,400 euros in compensation per student.

As well as the two large black lions at either end of the tapestry – symbolizing the ‘Rijkslionen’ chasing the debtor – there are countless smaller, often amusing cartoons on the nearly five-metre-long artwork. wide. Like the supermarket, woven with gold thread, where instead of Albert Heijn (or ‘Appie’ among students) the pun ‘Always Pain’ is written on the facade. Somewhere in the left corner are two dice with an eye on each side: you can roll, but only lose.

Battlefield

“It’s actually our own battlefield: the debt you have,” Veldhuis said in early April during the presentation of the work at the Dordrechts museum. “At the same time, the tapestry is a way to make something precious, because of the woven and fine texture. The carpet had to be big and massive in my eyes, just like my fault. If it was a drawing, it could not have had the same value.

Own fault is Veldhuis’ graduation project: he received a tenth at the HKU. It expresses the stress, pressure and other inconveniences of a large group of students.

Veldhuis only sells the work for the amount of its own student debt: 45,879.40 euros. To date, no buyer has been found, but this also confirms his point, he explains: “If I sell it, it can also be confirmation that people see that the lending system is false and negative. . But if I don’t sell it, that also shows how difficult it is to get rid of such high debt. That’s why I want to sell it in one piece, otherwise the statement is much weaker. This shows how absurdly high such student debt is.