In 2009 I was asked by the Van Gogh Museum to participate in Reconstructing Stevens, an art project that investigated the emancipation of modern women. Together with six other artists I blogged about my research and exhibited the end result in the museum. During my research I found out that voicing your opinion on this issue is tricky when you are man – and especially when you are a man working in advertising.
So for the exhibition I collaborated with the photographer Marieke van der Velden who has a track record of making sincere portraits of women. She photographed modern women on my pool party and asked them for their opinion on women’s emancipation. I hardly had any hand in creating the beautiful series that celebrated the emancipation of the modern woman.
My personal art piece was the performance on the night of the presentation. I presented myself as an ad man and proceeded to present the art made by Marieke. During the ensuing debate led by Hassnae Bouazza I was criticized by the crowd for my sexist approach to art. After all, pictures of women in bikinis were only to be expected from an ad man like myself. Only a few people bothered to take a closer look at the portraits and discover what these women had to say about emancipation. The focus of the debate really raised some interesting questions about the role of modern women in the visual arts and their impact on how art is criticized.
Sadly, the film that was made during the debate did not survive.
Grietje: “Ik vind het triest dat het op mondiaal niveau zeer droevig gesteld met emancipatie/vrouwenrechten. Gelukkig heeft volgens mij het overgrote deel van de vrouwen in Nederland de vrijheid om zo geëmancipeerd te kunnen zijn als ze willen zijn. Ik ben zo’n gelukkige vrouw die zo geëmancipeerd is als ze wil zijn.”
This is one of the 12 pictures that were on display at the museum.
Grietje gave us permission to publish her portrait and opinion online.