'Requiem' Anjet van Linge

Anjet van Linge, 2020

‘At the beginning of 2020 I started a new work. I cut crosses from pieces of tree trunk. I thought I was making a requiem for a forest. I wondered how many I had to make, how big the field had to be. Then a new infectious virus entered our lives. The work turned out to be a requiem. For the dead that were so much more than just a statistic. For everything we suddenly lost, that proved dear to our hearts. For everything that the earth lost, and for what now reluctantly returned.’

From March 27 to June 1, 2020, artist Anjet van Linge carved a new cross every day. She posted photos of it on Instagram (@anjetvanlinge). Soon the crosses received intentions. For example, the image of April 3 was dedicated to mothers who die completely alone, and the cross of May 12 to all people who have missed someone enormously, and who long for an embrace. All these crosses together form a requiem for the corona crisis. A ‘resting point’ for what was, for what we lost, for who we are now and for who we will become.

Requiem. Because we are nature. Because we die. Because we are blameless but not innocent. Because we are not omnipotent. Because those who die are loved by someone. Because nature breathes now. Because we listen. Because we watch. Requiem.

Click on fullscreen viewer to read the texts. The paper version of this book can be bought with Anjet van Linge herself.