Hyaline Hide, 2018
Series of glass reliefs and stainted glass
Hyaline Hide is a series around the material of glass. ‘Hyaline’, from the Greek húalos, means glassy, crystalline, or amorphous. ‘Hide’ refers to (animal) skin or shelter. I made several glass reliefs placed in front of drawings, like a second skin. When a spectator walks around the works, the relief creates subtle distortions in the drawings. Literally taking different perspectives formed the basis of the project. That the two different materials came together was very important. I further elaborated on this with the idea that infection − an organism that enters or coincides with another organism (thus connecting inside and outside) – leads to complexity and enrichment. The idea of infection began to recur in the work and eventually became the central topic of the series.
The work The Apostle Bartholomew is about St. Bartholomew, an apostle who is said to have been skinned at the end of his life. He is often depicted with his coat as skin, a knife, and a book. I think it is an interesting idea that you can take off your skin or identity like a coat. Yet, we are always bound by our history even if we ignore, destroy, or pulp the past. I combined it with close-ups of skin or parched earth and glass knives.
The concept of coming together and living together is expressed in the work Korstmos (We Are All Lichens Now). A lichen is a symbiotic organism. The mossy, composite being survives on stones, trees, and even on human skin. On top of the drawing of the lichen, I placed a glass relief of a mask (a second skin), as if the moss becomes a thought that embodies the face.