Handmodelling
Installation, Video
2010
Part of Binnenzee
August 7—28
RC De Ruimte, IJmuiden
Supported by
VSB Fonds
Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds
I created a narrative, a parody on a topmodel contest, about a girl called Hannah who has hands of unprecendented spiritual power. At least, she thinks so. I started to roam local schools, searching for young girls of age thirteen to play the part of a girl auditioning for a fictive handmodel’s contest. Writing letters, sending them to a local newspaper, telling the newspaper it is fiction, making the letters real and more real. Thirteen girls showed up at the photo shoots, wearing a ‘wristband’ that expressed their commitment to the project and to me. I started to wear mine the second I was convinced they would show up. That was when one of the girls during the ‘auditions’ asked me if her hands were ‘beautiful enough’ to participate in my competition. I realized there was no way I could destroy the power of illusion I was bringing to life.