Anno Dijkstra
Anno Dijkstra sculpts images in order to slow down, to make the absent image present again. Modern communication media (television images, newspaper photos, computer images), fast and ephemeral, show us the farthest reaches of the world. In the intimacy of our living rooms we become witnesses of things that are far away, but precisely because of this they emphasise the physical and emotional distance to the image we look at. In his recent work Anno wonders what it means to be lifted out of anonymity and to be exposed as an image to countless invisible eyes.The work Afterimage consists of a series of life size statues made of Dutch citizens without their knowledge. Several random persons are selected based on photographs from the web, whichare transformed to sculptures and then exhibited. Afterimage is not just about being watched, the invasion of privacy, or the ease with which anyone’s information can be accessed, but mostly about how that data can be subsequently be used and processed.
With Nabeeld/Afterimage, the images of a person are not impersonally stored digitally; instead they are translated into a unique three-dimensional representation of clay that has been made with time, craftsmanship, and great attention to detail. To create an image of someone is to have a form of power over the other, but to manually create an image of a person requires the artist’s time, talents, and dedication. By bringing back the physical aspect, the personal commitment, and the intimacy to this process, Anno Dijkstra demonstrates the absurdity of our relationship with our image within social media.
Projects by Anno Dijkstra