Matthias Schoenaerts Instagram – ‘HUMAIN’
Fissures and flaws. Surface cracks and deep scars. Tangible pangs: Our world is riddled with them. It hints at breaking, splitting, snapping, but this giant rock never caves to its torment. This is an homage to our home and the infinite stone it’s yielded us. I’ve photographed these so-called defects all over the world, then magnified and painted them somewhere else on the planet. This is a form of gratitude, announcing there’s glory in imperfection, triumph in pain and echoed connections everywhere.
This wall was a demand of King Philippe in collaboration
with @bozarbrussels.
They gave me total artistic freedom, as it should be.
The 6th wall in the series is named “HUMAIN”. It’s 800m2 (40m-20m)
The hand symbolizes creation, connection, contact and unity.
Human contact implies responsibility.
We are responsible for each other, especially now. This wall symbolizes our individual but also our historical responsibility.
The crack on this wall was shot on a statue of king Leopold II. The copper background refers to the resource that Belgium was mining heavily during the colonisation. The hand explicitly refers to the inhumane practice of Belgian officials cutting civilians hands off whenever they resisted working in the camps.
Besides many other atrocities that went on numbers show that approximately 18 million people were killed during the occupation, many millions had their hands chopped off.
It is a proper time to acknowledge the inhumain practices and horrific past and to consider a way of reparation for the inconceivable amount of pain and trauma caused by our nation. The time to speak and listen to each other is NOW. Let’s unite and avoid repeating the same neglectful and inhumane practices of the past.
Each one teach one🍀
My gratitude goes out to @nansschonkeren ✨ without you none of this would have happened. Endless respect and love.
Also thanks to @bozarbrussels for making it happen with us.
And last but not least thanks to the city of Antwerp for allowing this symbol of unity to grace our city.
@stad_antwerpen
#bozart #antwerp #reparation #leopold2 #colonisation #unity #corona #love #art # graffiti #amok | Posted on 31/Jul/2020 02:44:35
