CATTLE - BLUE: Thecla Schaeffer transforms salvaged denim into art about freedom, women and power
The former G-STAR CMO returns to denim through a new artistic lens exploring women’s freedom and the misogyny behind the line between art and craft
Amsterdam-based artist Thecla Schaeffer (known simply as THECLA) returns to Felix Meritis in Amsterdam this September with CATTLE - BLUE, a new iteration of her ongoing CATTLE art series. The female figures that have become a recurring visual language throughout her work return in this latest collection, in four large-scale denim tapestries, shown alongside new and existing paintings that feature the colour blue.
The new works carry CATTLE’s original feminist message with a new playful energy and a tactile feel. Thecla’s recurring women tumble, balance and hold the world aloft, creating images that are uplifting to look at while still carrying the deeper questions that have always run through the series, from the pressures placed on women to the possibility of freedom. In CATTLE - BLUE, that last idea comes more firmly to the fore, with THECLA deliberately exploring freedom, liberation and glorious fun alongside the tensions of control.
For CATTLE - BLUE, THECLA has intentionally moved away from the bright, saturated colours of her earlier work, which she deliberately used to confront the viewer. This time she has leaned towards a blue palette and texture, which led her to create much of her new work in denim - a material she has known well for most of her life.
Much of the denim used in the works is vintage or deadstock. Thecla began by cutting into her own jeans, some of which were pieces accumulated during her years at G-STAR, before searching Amsterdam’s thrift stores for more when those ran out. Clothes that have already had a life are cut apart and reworked into something new.
“It’s shocking how many clothes and especially denim are out there in charity stores,” says Thecla. “I think we have enough garments for another six generations already on the planet.”
STITCHING AS THE STORY
Working with denim meant learning a new craft. Her daughter taught her how to use a sewing machine that Thecla had given her some years earlier, and she began working both by hand and machine.
While she was sewing, someone jokingly referred to her new way of working as one of her “grandma hobbies”. Her 21-year-old daughter responded: “Do you know what the difference is between art and craft? Misogyny.” The line stayed with Thecla. “If a woman does it, it is often called craft. If a man does it, it is art.”
As the work developed, Thecla became more interested in the long history of women using fabric and stitching to communicate stories and knowledge. In some traditions, textiles have carried meanings only understood within particular communities of women.
That history gives the new works another layer. Sewing is both the means by which they are constructed, and part of what they are about, raising questions around whose forms of creativity have traditionally been valued as art, and whose have been dismissed as craft.
THE WOMEN REMAIN
Despite the change in material and colour, the women at the centre of CATTLE remain. In one of the new works, a female Atlas carries the world on her shoulders. Another figure appears upside down, suspended somewhere between playful freedom and a loss of control. Also in other works, the falling - or fallen - woman from Thecla’s previous work returns.
“Falling can be the ultimate moment of freedom, but it can also mean losing all control,” she says. “That duality is something I am interested in.”
CATTLE - BLUE follows CATTLE - MOTHERHOOD, Thecla’s 2025 exhibition exploring motherhood, female identity and the pressures placed upon women. Many of the underlying questions remain, but the emotional register of the new work has shifted in a lighter direction. Alongside the weight and constraint that have long been present in CATTLE, there is more room here for freedom and liberation.
Thecla continues to return to these themes because she believes they remain relevant, perhaps even more so.
ART TO BE EXPERIENCED IN THE EVERY DAY
CATTLE BLUE is installed throughout Felix Meritis, from the new restaurant to the hallways and stairways, where people can encounter the exhibition’s work as they move naturally through the building.
For Thecla, that changes the relationship between the work and its audience. The pieces have to live within the architecture and function of the space, while still carrying the ideas at the heart of CATTLE. The result is a quieter visual language for CATTLE, but far from a quieter point of view.
CATTLE BLUE by Thecla Schaeffer
Exhibition dates: 19 September 2026 - 15 November 2026
Opening: Saturday 19 September 2026 | 15:00 – 17:00
Location: Felix Meritis, Keizersgracht 324, Amsterdam
Opening hours / access: restaurant open Wednesday – Saturday | 16:00 – 22:00 (for the rest of the building, times vary depending on other shows that are on)
Website: thec.la
Instagram: www.instagram.com/thecla.la/
About Thecla Schaeffer
Thecla Schaeffer is an artist whose work explores themes of womanhood, vulnerability, exploitation, justice, strength and freedom. Her ongoing CATTLE series centres on expressive female figures and the pursuit of women’s freedom, drawing on both personal experience and broader questions around women’s lives and roles in society.
Before focusing on her artistic practice, Thecla spent two decades working in advertising and marketing, including as Chief Marketing Officer at G-Star RAW, Accell Group and Tony’s Chocolonely. Working across different media, she describes herself as “material agnostic”, choosing the material that makes most sense for the idea. CATTLE - BLUE follows previous iterations including CATTLE and CATTLE - MOTHERHOOD.
