Highlights 

Something Cooking

slowly slowly....

February is such a month that I often get completely knocked down from all the duties I couldn't get away with. Especially after a big endeavor like the Shut Up & Write Festival, I feel so exhausted, drained, and completely lacking the ability to undertake any new projects. But that doesn't mean I am not doing anything; on the contrary, I was so incredibly busy, participating in different initiatives and workshops, running from here to there. Meanwhile, something is cooking under. I can feel it, slowly, slowly, something will emerge....almost there. 

Recap:

Shut up & Write Festival 2026 Amsterdam

 

What a beautiful event we have created together! I am deeply proud of being a part of this community, not just for the vast talents that were showcased in the evening, but deep connection, respect, and support we showed each other during the whole process. Thank you all for taking-part in our program and the booklet, and thank you for showing up to celebrate this love with us. See you at the writing table! 

Exploring Identity: Culture, Self, and Memories

with Story-telling, Paper Mache Masks & Community Murals

"Tell me a story." 

The way we re-tell a story that was passed down to us when we were young speaks so much about who we are, what we truly care about, the things we lost on the way, our griefs, and hopes. 

 

Using the story as an inspiration, we make papier-mache masks that are intended to reveal instead of conceal, to show who we truly are: the persona, the self. the shadow. Combined with textile art, such as loom weaving, needle felting, and community sewing projects, we weave the personal experience into the archetypal existence, connect to the cultural and ancestral heritage, and bind the individuals into the community.  

 

The imagery abstracted from this process will be further developed into a series of community murals to break beyond the scope of stereotypical cultural tokens and connect people with diverse backgrounds in an authentic and soulful manner.    

 

Series - Word Unsaid

 

The series "Word Unsaid" explores the intensity of human emotions, the desire to connect and to be heard, and the limitation of our ability to reach out and truly bond with others with full emotional honesty. However hard we try, in tears or in anger, with pleas or flattery, we eventually come to the point of breaking when the conversation ends. We stare at the beloved's face, look at it for the last time with any sense of ownership, hoping that there will be one last magic sentence that will save us all, yet it never comes.

The Aching Heart Divination

 

Inspired by the Rider–Waite Tarot desk, "The Aching Heart Divination" is a line of paintings each with a series of 10 originals, to blur the line between originals and replicas. Each paintings in each series will use different colors, techniques and even slightly different drawings but remains recognizable with same design, yet projects a range of different atmospheres and evokes different emotions.

 

Fear of Happiness

Art made by hands and words created by a wondering mind

A strife to overcome the fears of being alive in the age of machines and mass production

 

Art & Service 

Painting  & Illustration

Ceramic

Unique original hand build ceramic art & jewelry

 

Writing

Writing as a way of self-realization

 

Workshops & Lessons

Creative Workshops & lessons for all ages

Blog

The Aching Heart Divination

19 Jun 2025 23:46

Most of the beautiful things I have ever created, came after a period of heart aches and turbulences. It is literally like giving birth, you must allow the old patterns and once safe ground to shatter, and allow yourself to be broken open, eventually from the cracks and wounds, a new life can come to be. It is in the heart ache, we realize that we no longer fit into the old life that we identify ourselves with. A change must be made, we must build ourselves up from the crumbles and pieces, to become new. It can a terrifying experience to break away from the old life, but refusing the invitation is not an option. The old self either shatters from within, or is crushed by outer events.

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Contact 

Contact me for more information

Location

Fear of Happiness
Amsterdam, Nederland

About Agnes Poe

Taiwanese writer and artist based in Amsterdam. A constant gardener.