Ria Pacquée
FROM MY ROTTING BODY, FLOWERS SHALL GROW AND I AM IN THEM AND THAT IS ETERNITY, 2014
The Belgian photographer Ria Pacquée makes herself the subject of her works in the most extraordinary situations. The title From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity refers on the one hand to the famous quote of Thomas Moore, which was later also used by Edvard Munch, and on the other to a performance that Pacquee did in 2014, when ‘Picnic at Hanssenpark’, an exhibition of Danny Devos in De Pont, Bruges. Pacqué ends her performance by burying her head in sand. For this edition, the artist throws dirt in her face multiple times, and takes pictures of the result. Although the flowerpot is only filled with potting soil, one expects, it would be watered regularly. The scene changes the importance of this philosophical reflection in a light-footed confrontation with mortality.