Autumn walk through former military training ground – 29 unique bronze sculptures (2018)
The source material for these miniature sculptures are chestnuts and acorns, collected during a walk through the Appèlbergen forest, a former military training ground in Groningen. The forest has a grim history: Dozens of people were shot and buried there during the Second World War. The location is now used for recreational purposes. I go there for walks with my wife and daughter and in the fall we collect chestnuts to make playful figurines. I thought it would interesting to make the ephemeral material last by casting it in bronze, a metal commonly used for war memorials. To me, the sculptures commemorate the fleeting nature of our childlike innocence.