Yara Hoekstra

I moved to Rotterdam from Leeuwarden to study at the Willem de Kooning Academy and stayed because the city lets you paint on its walls, more or less. I work as an illustrator, I run workshops for teenagers in Rotterdam-Zuid, and on weekends I show visitors around the street art and galleries I know from the inside. I am not an art historian and I will not pretend to be. What I can do is tell you who painted what, how long it took, whether they had permission, and where to get the best kapsalon, which is a Rotterdam invention made of fries, meat and cheese that I love and am a little ashamed of. I speak Dutch and English and a little Frisian, which only helps with my grandmother. My tours are relaxed and I like people who take photos, as long as they tag the artists. I now guide live on video from Rotterdam, with my phone as the camera and time for your questions all the way through.