Photo Works
The name Pietà is given to a series of self-portraits made during a time period of 17 years. The first one dates from 1993 and the last one from 2009. Every two years a new one is created.
The series consists of black and white photographs in which the artist sits on a pedestal in the middle of a space. She holds an object on her lap. With each new Pietà, the surrounding space and the object on the woman’s lap are different.
The work refers to the form and meaning of the Pietà, a religious image of the Virgin Mary holding the lifeless body of Christ on her lap. In this image love and sorrow come together in great compassion. The series of self-portraits give this image a modern form and content during this period of time.
Pietà 2007 is a self-portrait made in one of the famous soap factories in Aleppo in 2007. Aleppo Soap has a four-thousand-year-old tradition, from the labour of making the soap with olive and bayberry oil to its trade along the Silk Route. Soap refers to cleaning in all kinds of forms. In the photograph, the bars of soap are scattered all over the floor and a book is carried on the lap: labour versus mind, chaos versus order. Most of the Aleppo Soap factories are destroyed since the Syrian war started in 2011.
Pietà 2007
2007
nr 8 from the series
gelatin silver print
124 x 155 cm
edition of 2 and 1 AP
75 x 95 cm
edition of 3 and 1 AP
2023 © rinihurkmans