Video Art

Johannes Vermeer

View on Delft 

1660-1661

Oil on Canvas

96.5 x 117.5 cm

Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis

Rosa Paardenkooper

View on Den Bosch

Video

Den Bosch

As a response to Vermeer's view on Delft, which portrays the Dutch city Delft, I created a video which shows a view on Den Bosch, the city where I am originally from. 

Self-Portrait

Self-portrait

2014

Photograph

282mm x 292mm

Istanbul

The assignment was to create a portrait, when I thought about this I realized how portraits are mostly not very interesting since they simply represent a person through displaying their face, or their whole body. Another observation I made was the fact that they usually represent the person in an iconic fashion, for example by indicating their profession, their nicest clothes etc. With this notion of iconic I started brainstorming and decided to create a portrait which just shows a lock of my hair. Ever since I was old enough to remember people have commented on my hair, both in the Netherlands and abroad, thus I decided that to represent my hair would for many people be enough to understand that this was me, and would thus serve as a portrait in that it is recognizable and iconic. 

Interpretation of Michelangelo's Pieta

Michelangelo Buonarroti

1498-1499

Marble

1.74m x 1.95m

Saint-Peters basilica

Rosa Paardenkooper - Nous sommes Charlie

2014

Photo Layers

1500x1500

Istanbul

As a response to the recent events in Paris, I decided to comment on the situation in my pieta adaptation. In order not to take away from its message and function I used a very subtle change by adding text. My goal is to demonstrate how the attack on the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French magazine, should not be defined by the hatred of one religion, Islam, towards this magazine, but should rather be defined by the hatred of these particular men who committed these acts. The death of Ahmed, a Muslim police officer who was killed whilst protecting the magazine, has become a symbol of the way in which these events should not be subscribed to a religion but rather to individuals. By making both Jesus and Maria, two Christian icons, stating that they are equally Ahmed I aim to comment on any questioning of these actions in relation to religion, demonstrating that generally speaking people are all Ahmed.

This article reflects on the position of #jesuisahmed and #jesuischarlie in the light of recent events http://www.vox.com/2015/1/9/7521151/charlie-hebdo-jesuisahmed