Polluted Mother

Unfired clay, wood, video in loop 2’11”, 212cm x 94cm

A life size body lies still in front of a moving landscape. The body is made from polluted soil from Dordrecht, excavated under the smoke of the Chemours factory. The artist’s mother was the model and lives in Dordrecht. The drone images show the excavation of the soil, with the factory in the background. Polluted Mother is a poetic protest against pollution, at the same time it is about care, legacy and the ongoing movement of life and death.

Roos van Geffen: “Polluted Mother arose from the fear of losing my mother, in the context of the vulnerable state of the world and the ecological anxiety that comes from it. It is about what is passed on between generations.
The chemical factory Chemours illegally discharged the highly dangerous PFAS into the Merwede near Dordrecht for decades. Residents, including my mother, can no longer eat eggs or vegetables from the area, some are seriously ill or have reduced fertility. After the exhibition, I buried the sculpture in the same place where the clay came from.”

Image made in collaboration with Alexander Lichtveld. With support of: my mother, Alexander Lichtveld, Berend Langedijk and Frank.