A post-colonial family affair by Eva Gonggrijp
‘Once I dreamt that I walked through my old dollhouse, empty but full of atmosphere, waking up with a story, of which the words got lost’. Memories want to be explored and recalled from the merciless passing by and disappearing, which is the essence of time. Memories do not agree with the one-way traffic of the time of the clock. They cling to other memories; if they venture back into times past, it is to move forward. Objects play a vital part in this. When you inherit precious objects, you do not inherit just the material, but also traces of people, memories of them and of particular situations, sometimes going back generations. There is nothing more lonely than a ring slipping off a finger with its destination unknown.
Gonggrijp’s grandmother built a dollhouse for her, the Eva Hof [Eva’s court], an almost perfect replica of her own house. A great part of her hidden colonial past, her losses and dreams were echoed in the dollhouse. For Eva in turn, her grandmother’s house became a safe haven during a turbulent youth. The dollhouse now is empty, but almost inaudible stories dart out from the cracks of times past, from the space between things, from the silence in between the sounds. Who enters this space changes from subject to participating and direct object, since the memories are not yours but do need your sensory perceptions to come to life.
Text Cees de Boer | Art Historian and curator
Gonggrijp’s grandmother built a dollhouse for her, the Eva Hof [Eva’s court], an almost perfect replica of her own house. A great part of her hidden colonial past, her losses and dreams were echoed in the dollhouse. For Eva in turn, her grandmother’s house became a safe haven during a turbulent youth. The dollhouse now is empty, but almost inaudible stories dart out from the cracks of times past, from the space between things, from the silence in between the sounds. Who enters this space changes from subject to participating and direct object, since the memories are not yours but do need your sensory perceptions to come to life.
Text Cees de Boer | Art Historian and curator
Funded by Avro/Tros, AFK and Mondriaanfonds
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