Kinderlijke angst, 190x160cm, oil on canvas, 2025

Kinderlijke Angst was the main part of Jasmijn Doukje’s solo-exhibition called Garden of Juvenile Fears at Spazio Box in Rome.

Garden of Juvenile Fears is a reflection on childhood fears, once overwhelming, now strangely absurd. Inspired by a recent painting of the artist, and playing on Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, the exhibition transforms personal anxieties into surreal, symbolic scenes.

Poppies represent the fear the artist had of losing her grandfather, kiwis recall a night of illness after eating seven, and ladybugs reference an infestation in her childhood bedroom as well as being a symbol against bullying. These symbols, once terrifying, now carry a kind of humor.

The works navigate the fine line between fear and absurdity, memory and myth. By reimagining these juvenile phobias, the exhibition becomes a playful yet sincere garden of imagined horrors, both intimate and universal.