At times you have the desire to make something. For instance, I desired to make something after seeing heartbreaking images of refugees in the news. There are many different reasons why people leave their homes for good. I am not able to send away dictators, stop natural disasters or turn other injustices into justice. Still, I had to do something with the desire to give those large anonymous numbers a face. As I walked, the shards on my path caught my eye. Broken, battered and devalued. I felt I could do more with them, so I carried them back to my studio. The third photo was taken in September 2018. Up until the end of 2019, I tried several times to make something from my shards. But couldn't find anything that worked. That is until I came up with the idea of grinding the stones into oval cabochons. All of a sudden, old tiles turned into portraits. Neglected turned into regarded and respected.
Galerie Friends of Carlotta launched a competition to celebrate its 25th anniversary with the name ' Eureka'. The thought of grinding my tiles had given me exactly that feeling of joy and relief. The piece you sent in had to be accompanied by a description of your eureka moment to be part of the work. The length of the text could not exceed 500 characters, so I wrote it down as poetry. Sadly, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the contest was first put on hold and later cancelled. Of course, I was disappointed, but after sending in this work in March 2020, I have started to use poetry more often. It enables viewers to understand the meaning of the work that I do. An understanding that feels like winning the grand prize to me!
Eureka has an online catalogue. Are you curious about the eureka feeling of the other 86 participants? Click here to download the Eurake catalogue .