About Anneke Bloema

Surreal animal art by visual artist Anneke Bloema

As a kid, I loved drawing and animals and playing outdoors. At home, I was allowed to keep many pets, including a cat, rabbits, guinea pigs, and chickens. I loved to take care of them.

I have an older brother and a younger sister. We’re very close in age. I have fond memories of our imaginative childhood together. We played and fought together as pirates, as princes and princesses, and of course as ourselves.

When I was 18 I took photography as a hobby, soon after enrolling in a course at ‘De Fotovakschool’. Gradually photography became my profession, and in 2001 I founded my own company The Factory II.
I started to do more and more graphic designs like collages. In time I found a way to tell the stories I wanted to tell. After winning an important prize for my illustrations, I was very encouraged to go on. And that’s what I did. Nowadays I spend a lot of time making these collages. Having a very big photo archive of my own allows me to use mostly my own pictures in my storytelling animal artwork.

I live with my wife and dogs in the countryside. I still like to play outside, just as our dogs do.