"On July 11, 1995, Srebrenica fell. Despite being declared a safe area by the United Nations, Srebrenica was captured by Bosnian Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladić. More than 8,000 Muslim boys, men, girls, and women, as well as people of other faiths, were deported, raped, abused, and murdered, while Dutch UNPROFOR soldiers were present. This is considered the largest genocide in Europe since World War II. To this day, it remains a painful memory and an important lesson about the consequences of international intervention—or rather, the lack thereof.
In addition to this historical tragedy, there is another important issue that concerns us: climate change in the Netherlands. The consequences are becoming increasingly visible, with more extreme weather conditions such as heat waves, heavy rainfall, and rising sea levels. As a country with many low-lying areas, the Netherlands is particularly vulnerable.
We have created a work of art based on these two important topics.
We made a bag from recycled plastic, using garbage bags, specifically blue ones, because blue is the color of the blue helmets. The blue helmets were the Dutch who said that the people in Srebrenica were ‘safe’. In addition, we chose to weave the bag in the African style, so that we could still maintain a connection with CATPC.
The artist who inspired us is Ghita Skali. Her message is that you should not believe everything, but first think critically about the world around us. We let a sandwich go moldy so that our artwork would also influence Ghita Skali. As the icing on the cake, we wove white flowers through the bag as a symbol of peace."
