This work is called Duif (translation: pigeon): a pigeon made of aluminium. Besides that I think that the ‘Duif’
looks interesting, the process also fascinated me. To make this sculpture, I brought a real dead pigeon from the street home and kept it in my freezer for a couple of weeks. When there was time in the workplace, I added channels of wax. To add the pouring cup, I needed to pierce the bird with a stainless steel pin. Then the mold was put in the oven, the pigeon cremated, and so I poured aluminum in the hollow space that had formed in the mold. The ashes and a few pieces of bones that remained of the pigeon were kept in the mold, you can still see this in the aluminum, these are the last remains of the pigeon.
This is a way to establish and to keep the dead of the everyday. By using a real pigeon, I am a part of the process of the dead of the pigeon. Using aluminium was an interesting choice, because there is a contrast with on one side the dead pigeon and on the other side the aluminium which almost feels shiny-glitter-like.