Pietà

Ultimate perfection
Michelangelo’s Pietà is often considered the perfection in sculpture. Composed in total harmony, it simultaneously represents a portrayal of ultimate mourning: the mother with her dead son on her lap.

Political-religious context
Since the first time I saw this sculpture, it crushed me. Using classical imagery, in a representation that lives on timelessly, this pietà not only unites pain, sorrow, anger and bewilderment, but also stands in a political-religious context. Because of this, the image also marks a point at which time took a turn. After this turn, many other turns followed where mothers held their murdered son (metaphorically) in their arms: Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Mahatma Ghandi, J.F. Kennedy, Pim Fortuyn, Theo van Gogh, James Foley and others.

Under the skin
With my version of the Pietà, using Michelangelo’s Pietà as a starting point, I wanted to create an image for all mothers with murdered sons. Because mourning begins physically directly under the skin, I decided to make the very area directly under the skin visible by turning the skin inside out.

The real emotion
By turning the skin inside out, the inside of man with all its connotations became visible. We no longer look from the outside in at my Pietà, but from the inside out. As a result, the position of the viewer is reversed, and through the alienation the viewer experiences, the real emotion can come out.

The projection of the viewer
I deliberately omitted Mary’s face, allowing the dark hole to accommodate the viewer’s projection. With this pietà, I wanted to make a monument to the pain and mourning of all mothers holding their murdered sons, in the past, present and future. Let us not forget them.