About Loesje

Loesje was born on the 24th of November 1983 in Arnhem, the Netherlands, and immediately started an adventurous and energetic life as a poster girl on the streets of her home city.
Loesje was created as an initiative to express the need of constructive criticism and to discuss negative messages spread by the media and political movements of that time.
Within a year, local Loesje groups emerged in several Dutch cities and the idea started to grow. In September 1986 she already had 340 friends actively spreading posters signed with her name all over the Netherlands.
Loesje started travelling across Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall and Loesje International was formally established as a foundation in 1994.
Loesje International
The 1990s was when Loesje started to travel more around Europe and other parts of the world, both as a person and as an idea.
As a result, local groups kick-started in many countries, writing texts in their own languages. Loesje started to publish a monthly international series of posters in English and her friends from various countries started meeting at an annual summer camp to exchange their local experiences, share skills and write together.
Loesje 1980s
Loesje baner
Local Loesje groups write and spread posters signed by Loesje, with texts about everything that happens in society. Loesje texts are constructive and often funny, and at the same time critical. They aim to inspire readers to see things from new perspectives, show initiative and take action for themselves and other people around them.
Galeriae od Ulicy - plakaty Loesje w Szczecinie
Loesje posters
Loesje first visited Poland when she was travelling Europe after the Wall came down. She made contacts, wrote texts with the local enthusiasts and they together spread fresh posters and ideas. The trip was called "Rode Peper" (Red Pepper) and a book documenting those experiences was later published under the same name.
Over the years, Loesje became more present in countries other than the Netherlands and she undertook a travel through the new EU member states in 2004 which later resulted in the book titled "I Entered the EU without Traveling". She worked towards a more creative society with local activists and youth workers and among the places she visited was Polish town Kielce. Her ideas and posters stayed there for longer and it was where Loesje was most active during her first years in Poland.
Over time, she formally relocated to Warsaw and finally registered a non-profit foundation under the name of Fundacja Loesje Polska in late 2019.
LOESJE'S FAMILY
Loesje has family, friends - including pets, and occasionally they too voice their opinions on the posters.
Because each of them is a unique character, their views might differ from Loesje herself but they share her openness and curiosity.

You can search the international poster archive to read their texts and learn about their personalities and opinions.

Loesje signature

Loesje International

and thousands of posters