Leef! (Live!), video installation

(The video entered is a simulation based on the first exhibition in the former Post office of Bilthoven, May 2011)
Inspiration: In his Metamorphoses, the Roman poet Ovid recounts the myth of Pygmalion, who falls in love with an ivory sculpture. Eventually, the scuplture is brought to life by Aphrodite, allowing Pygmalion and the sculpture to become real-life lovers. This tale has inspired Mariëtte: the feeling of closeness of one’s own sculpture and the desire to breathe life into it, is a feeling that many sculptors will recognize. The life-giving water theme exists in many cultures.
Description: The sculptor-mother – creator of both sculpture and son – pours water over her son’s image incessantly, giving life to the image’s face. The water must keep flowing to bring life to the sculpture. Finally, she, exhausted, is forced to give up and to witness her ‘son’ turning into wood again. Symbolizing the never-ending efforts of a mother to keep her children alive. Forced to give up, she suffers from strong feelings of guild. She is unable to keep him alive, and burdens him with an imperfect, mortal body.
Concept, sculpture: Mariëtte Meijers. Video: Ab Talmon