Photograph taken by Kate.
Biography
Nabila Stechman (b. 2000), formerly known as Nabila Ayu Aviani, is an Indonesian figurative painter based in The Hague, Netherlands. Raised in the United Arab Emirates, she holds a BA in Fine Art, specialising in painting from the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) and is currently pursuing an MA in Art Direction at LABASAD, Barcelona. Her multicultural upbringing and lived experiences with bipolar disorder deeply inform her artistic practice.
Renowned for her bold and emotionally charged paintings, Nabila’s work tackles themes such as self-hate, identity crises, and mental health. Her art challenges societal taboos, aiming to destigmatise mental illness and confront ableism. Through her intuitive process, she creates a space for raw emotions and repressed thoughts to surface, encouraging vulnerability and authenticity. Her paintings serve as a visual diary, capturing the intense highs of mania, the depths of depression and the nuanced states in between.
Nabila’s interest in identity and psychology stems from her third-culture upbringing, which nurtured her curiosity about human behaviour and the complexities of self-perception. She uses her art to unravel the layers of human experience, portraying the imperfect yet beautiful nature of humanity. Her work challenges binary views of existence, embracing the grey zones of emotion, identity, and lived experience.
Through her practice, Nabila aims to celebrate humanity’s resilience and complexity, transforming personal struggles into universal reflections. Her art stands as a testament to the power of fearless self-expression and the beauty found in imperfection.
Artist statemenT
In my artistic practice, there is an exploration of opposing forces, such as growing through pain, (self) hate versus (self) love and searching for an identity despite lacking a sense of belonging. In my emotional figurative paintings, these black-and-white certainties diffuse with the grey zones of the complex human condition.
A mixture of topics such as mental health, identity politics and societal taboos are touched upon in my artistic practice. My artworks resonate with an inclusive and broader cultural moment, tending towards vulnerability and authenticity. My background is that of a third-culture artist born in Indonesia, raised in the United Arab Emirates, and now based in the Netherlands. The influence of my multicultural background bleeds into my works, in which I interrogate the notion of displacement, intersectionality and the construction of the ‘self’ within this globalised world.
As someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder, my practice expresses a personal perspective and exploration of mental health. At the same time, my practice connects with the ongoing efforts in contemporary art to destigmatise and visualise the invisible struggles of the human mind.
My paintings are used as a visual diary, evoking the experiences of manic and depressive episodes, as well as self-deterioration, identity crises and emotional turbulence. They lead to the contribution of dialogues around ableism and the representation of neurodivergent experiences within the arts. This is due to my ‘reveal, do not conceal’ ethos that connects to a variety of broad movements in contemporary art, highlighting the imperfect and the vulnerable. In my works, feminine rage, resilience and a yearning for connection are ingrained, challenging societal norms whilst celebrating humanity's fragility and strength. By offering viewers a space for introspection and connection, I aim to normalise conversations about vulnerability and mental health.
I am aware that my paintings evoke discomfort as they also mirror the raw truths that contemporary art seeks to confront, such as the unvarnished realities of our shared existence. I am not creating works that result in easy answers or resolutions to these problems. Rather, my works aim to foster a discourse, encouraging the audience to face the complexity of the human condition. In this fractured, fast-paced and changing world, I engage with not only the truths but also the imperfections.
Photograph taken by Kate.
Photograph taken by Kate.
Curriculum Vitae
Nabila Stechman (also known as Nabila Ayu Aviani) b. 2000
Born in Tangerang, Indonesia
Artist based in The Hague, Netherlands
Artist based in The Hague, Netherlands
Education
2024 - present
Master's of Art in Art Direction (online), LABASAD, Barcelona, SP.
2019 - 2023
Bachelor's of Art in Fine Art, Royal Academy of Art (KABK), The Hague, NL
2014 - 2019
Secondary school, Al Ain English Speaking School, Al Ain, UAE.
Solo Exhibition
2024
Contradicting In/sanity, Make It Art Worthy, The Hague, NL.
Group Exhibition
2024
Bi+, Bar Bario, Amsterdam, NL.
XL March, Kunstmarkt Noord, Amsterdam, NL.
(Don’t) Come As You Are, FUI, Amsterdam, NL.
2023
Drawings Paintings, Maldoror Galerie, The Hague, NL.
This is a list of my confessions I couldn't say, KABK Graduation Show 2023, The Hague, NL.
2022
Three Birds No Stone, Fine Arts KABK Pre-Graduation show, LAAKClub, The Hague, NL.
To Give A Dog A Name, Billytown/Ruimtevaart, The Hague, NL.
Mmmmmmmmmarshmallow Cube, Royal Academy of Art (KABK), The Hague, NL.
Don't Lose Yourself, Delft, NL.
2021
Take Me Somewhere Nice, SeeLab, The Hague, NL.
With/Out, WEST, The Hague, NL.
Beyond Binaries, TENT, Rotterdam, NL.
2019
In Bloom, La Dolce Vita, Al Ain , UAE.
Publication
2022
Featured in Mosquito Newspaper.