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Judith de Leeuw, also known as JDL, is a female international street artist ( 1). De Leeuw started as a graffiti writer in Amsterdam and travels the world to create murals. 1 In 2017, she won a Dutch Street Art Award in the Young Talent category. 2 In 2021, De Leeuw sold her work for 2.9 million dollars in cryptocurrency, of which she donated 33% to charity. 3
Biography JDL grew up in a religious family in Amsterdam-Osdorp. She is the daughter of a historian (father) and an expert in data security (mother). According to her parents, she had musical talent; they encouraged her to become a pianist, but that didn't happen. She claimed to be a good learner but also found school boring; she was constantly drawing.
In the period around 2007, she started as a graffiti writer on the streets with childhood friends. 4 This led to a turbulent period where she ended up in a youth institution at the age of seventeen. There, she continued her drawing. Once back in the outside world (at 18), she decided to change her life, attempting to start a study in Art & Design (2015) and attending the Willem de Kooning Academy for a year (2016). Although her teachers emphasized her drawing skills, the education did not suit her; she was not fit for the classroom. She interned at the Street Art Museum, where she could improvise but also had to stretch canvases for others. She discovered her love for murals. Her work was noticed by Amsterdam hospitality entrepreneurs who commissioned her to paint works, including a mural in a pop-up restaurant in Amsterdam-East in 2017.
Around 2015, she transitioned to realistic murals and became known for her portrait of Amy Winehouse (2016) on Fokke Simonszstraat in Amsterdam. 5 During that period, she wondered if she could continue with this work, received requests for murals from abroad, and hesitantly received domestic requests as well.
In 2018, she created an eight-story mural of the rapper Winne at Kruisplein in Rotterdam. 6
International recognition resulted in over thirty of her murals being visible in Europe, Asia, and America (see Work section). The series was interrupted by lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an infection that kept her at home.