Margaret Lansink, Subtle 2, 2020
, Collage printed on Kizuki handmade Washi paper, mended with 23Kt gold leaf, 88 x 48 cm
Courtesy of the artist and IBASHO Gallery, Antwerp
Through the Japanese technique of Kintsugi, where broken pottery pieces are put back together with gold lacquer, highlighting the cracks and breaks, Margaret Lansink expresses fault lines in her own life story, processing blows such as losing contact with her daughter. Similar to metaphors, her pictures divide up experiences into individual parts, then re-combine and re-arrange them. By emphasising the cracks with gold leaf, she shows her appreciation of the imperfect and points towards the inherent beauty of all things, their fragility, and the hope for new connections that are stronger and even more beautiful than before, precisely because they were once broken.