“The beauty of acid paper is that it’s alive. It’s different to last week. It lives, it’s fragile, it isn’t made of concrete. But at the same time, I feel the need to preserve it.
Because it’s not just about the artwork, it’s about the story of the people who fall between our borders, about telling their story again. And how can we retell it? By showing these images more often.
And what if the image slowly decomposes and eventually disappears?”Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries
Starting out as occupational therapy for asylum seekers, the creative work grew into an art project with higher ambitions. His “Paper Monument to the Paperless” grew out of a need to help fellow human beings regain their identity lost through some circumstance.
It had to become a kind of ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’, as more disciplines were involved in order to realize the idea of the images. Himmelsbach observes and directs so that concrete things can arise. His way of working here is not stilted or with superior material. The technique that Himmelsbach uses is traditional wood carving. The resulting simple look delivers strong visuals to support its pressing message. Woodcuts also give unity to the various manuscripts when working in groups. This collective art practice also had extra meaning for the people portrayed. With several artists at the same time, more attention could be paid to the needs of their personal situation. Portraying their faces could be the beginning of a more dignified life.