BOMB WRECK JEWELLERY
(Groningen: Bomb Wreck Jewellery at NP3, 2009; Nijmegen: 'Bomb Wreck Jewellery', Titus Brandsma Gedachteniskerk, 2009; Amsterdam: Sieraad 2009, 2009)

Production of a jewellery set (necklace, bracelet, ring, brooch, earrings) produced from the remains of the two cars that were used for an attack on the Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, killing thirty-eight people. The goal was to further embed (the remains of ) of the car bomb wreckages within a western, capitalist system after the earlier presentation of the bomb wrecks in 2007. During the opening of the exhibition, the jewellery was shown by models, positioned in five grey wooden boxes. Through rectangular holes made into the boxes, the jewellery was visible, being worn by the models on the skin, without the display being disturbed by the rest of the appearance of the models. Thus the bomb wrecks, which represented a barely imaginable violent dimension, acquired a real place within a Dutch context. The jewellery represents a synergy between economical and moral values, that symbolizes in its appearance both an ethical and an esthetical conflict.

Concept and production in cooperation with Jiska Hartog and Michiel Henneman
Set photography by Folkert Datema and Hein Mulder
Exhibition photography by Ruud Ploeg