Four portraits of women with a multiple disability, depicted as a ‘Girl with the Pearl’, have recently been hanging in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. From more than 2700 entries, the museum chose these portraits of photographer Peggy Stadhouders for the exhibition. The Oosterhoutse wants to convey a powerful message.
Just like in 2023, the Mauritshuis in The Hague made another call to be exhibited this year Girl with the Pearl from Johannes Vermeer to be given a new look. The Oosterhout photographer Peggy Stadhouders did not hesitate for a moment to send her interpretations of the world -famous painting. She is one of the sixty lucky ones who was selected for the exhibition My girl with a pearl.
Peggy knows the four ‘girls’ from her work on the day care of the Pim Foundation in Dorst. That is a housing facility for sixteen young people aged 18 to 32, who have a multiple disability. She took the photos during an art week on daytime activities. Together with Wendy Tammenga, a mother of one of the young people, Peggy photographed the women with a Christmas ball on their earcups and turned them into Girl with the Pearl. The models were also transformed into The milk girlanother work by Johannes Vermeer, and portrayed as the painter Rembrandt van Rijn.
A woman with Rett’s syndrome, a condition in which the child’s development suddenly stops and then deteriorates, was one of Peggy’s models. “She now has a speech computer with eye control, so she can tell what is going on in her,” the photographer explains. “She liked the model, but also exciting.”
“These girls are also people, just like you and me. Their disability is a side issue.”
“People with multiple disabilities are not very visible in our society,” notes Peggy. “Many people find it exciting or avoid it.” According to Peggy, that is not necessary with the four portraits, just like you and me, see them.
Last Friday is the exhibition My Girl With A Pearl Festively opened in the foyer of the Mauritshuis. It is not yet known until when it will be shown.