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‘Whatever ends, begins’ wrote Jan Willem van de Wetering in his book, Empty Mirror, about his stay at a Japanese Zen monastery. This quote struck me like a boomerang. For a long time now, I have been drawing flowers in order to approach my own existential questions, questions that in the course of my drawing move into an experience of the power of life, and at the same time, its fragility, from which we cannot protect it - a moment in which death and life briefly come together. Whatever Ends, Begins became my response to an invitation from the Glass Museum to take part in I'll be Blown/Op het lijf geblazen. Like drawings in glass, we blew a series of flowers in which my own ashes would one day come to rest. The idea began with a drawing by my daughter. We were talking about what would happen after I died, and she drew a flower with a stem and a little cover. She was six years old at the time, now a long while back. The idea is that after my death and cremation, my loved ones will receive a glass flower, in which they will put a handful of my ashes. Of course it is no problem if some ashes are spilled. It can be light - in both senses of the word. The flower is sealed with red sealing wax. These glass urns can now be made to order, so that others, after their earthly existence, can also be laid to rest in a flower. The work will grow as purchasers, or their descendents, decide to put a photograph of their flower, perhaps together with a few thoughts, but without names or dates, on this website. In time, a field of flowers will evolve on this site, with stories, offering inspiration to those who are alive. Peik Suyling 2010
For further information, please contact the National Glass Museum in Leerdam.
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