Exhibition 'Wiens Oorlog' at Drift

Discover images of a quest to find out where and how war infiltrated my life and work.

Ellen Rijk: “It all started in 2015 with a small assignment to create work inspired by a postcard from the First World War, from the vicinity of Verdun. In the process, collages of postcards, a maquette, and photographs emerged.

Subsequently, new spatial works, a drawing/painting, and prints about my parents' war experiences, my experiences with children in asylum centers in Gilze and Oisterwijk, and the war in Ukraine where friends from Kiev found themselves. Not my own war, because I am 'from after the war'. So, whose war are we really talking about?”

This search ultimately found its reflection in this exhibition and publication, for which Pietjan Dusee wrote texts. The photography is by Ernest Potters, Sahin Sişic, and Ellen Rijk.