The Waiting

Photo on dibond, steel frame 200cm x 90cm

In the photo installation ‘The Waiting’ someone floats just below the surface of the water, larger than life size. Is it a girl or is it a woman? Is she alive? Is she sleeping? Did she drown? Or does she wait for life to begin?  The image refers to Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and painted by John Everett Millais in 1852.

The girl in the water is my 14-year-old daughter. She often says she’s too young to do the really cool stuff, but too old to play. I remember that feeling, which I also had at that age. It’s a wonderful time… of new things, new friends, first times. At the same time, as her mother, I feel the fear that something will happen to her, she is at the vulnerable age where, statistically speaking, she is most likely to have her boundaries violated.

Part of the artwork is my presence on the bridge throughout the festival, open for conversations with the spectators. The work was covered outside the festival opening hours.

Ode to the Linge, Land Art Festival, Heemtuin Geldermalsen