Part I: Inspiration
At the beginning of 2015 I knew there was a full calendar ahead so felt somewhat pressured to complete the 'Eve in Exile' installation in time for Women’s History Month, a project that carried a lot of personal significance for me.
The humour, courage and strength
endured by my Dutch grandmother, my Oma, during her time in the Japanese World
War II (WW2) prisoner of war camps was the inspiration for Eve in Exile. Spending
a considerable amount of time researching – the history of that period; the
biographies of other women who were interned during WW2; and reading my great-grandmother's journal helped me to understand their gruelling time
in the camps. The title Eve in Exile is taken from the journal. The women in the camp found ways to bring humour into the bleak days, and one of these was to name the houses they were camped in. Paradise, but without Adam and Eve in Exile were some of the names of these houses.
The unbroken spirit of all of these women was poignant. They found hope and a will to hang on, which was wrapped up in their need to hold onto their few possessions; it brought them joy in such bleak circumstances. I was deeply moved by their courage and comradeship by looking out for one another, when I could only imagine how it would have been easy to just look out for oneself and I believed that these actions unearthed strength in their unity.
Therefore, making Eve in Exile was a particularly challenging prospect for me. I was committed to an idea to create a personally influenced work that best narrated my voice and that of these women. They funnelled my energies into working with unknown materials, as now as in the past I always got a kick out of exploring unventured territories as it provided opportunities to learn new things. My experiences have always taught me to spend a considerable amount of time refining the concept in my head, working out how I would make the installation structurally sound before attempting to make anything. Often this involved a lot of online research and in this case, for the first time, I documented the process on my Tumblr blog and so relieved that I now have recorded the experiences. Years from now I will look back and become nostalgic about making the orchids and breaking knives on the vintage suitcases that I deconstructed to make a frame for the barb wire wreath. But equally important I will remember mastering new concepts and techniques that broadened the whole experience.
As well as being hardy and flexible, the orchid has the same significance as a war memorial to the people of South East Asia as the poppy has to Europeans. It was also the national flower of what was then the Dutch East Indies and is still the national flower of Indonesia. This is why it forms such a significant part of the installation.
To support the Eve in Exile installation I created 3 mixed media sculptural pictures: Eve’s Mark, Eve’s Fall and Camping with Eve. While my installation expressed the hope, resilience and unbroken spirit of the women exiled, these pictures reflected the unseen scars of trauma that left their mark even long after the terrible event.
I am drawn to trees, their symbolism and their constant presence in a changing world. I see them as strong and rooted whilst enduring the elements through time and, as did the women, leave their mark; at times battered but still standing. They tell the story of the women who survived and who will continue to survive and carry the marks of their experience hidden under the surface for the remainder of their lives.