No one is perfect, but often our imperfections are magnified in our self-image. With her exhibition ‘Spiegologie’, photographer Dolly Pieterson wants to break through this. “I want to hold up a mirror to people,” she says. “I want to show participants how beautiful they are, regardless of their imperfections. And I want to show spectators that every person can be there.”
Pieterson’s photo and art project can be admired since Sunday in MicksArt Collectief in Emmen. There are five gigantic photos on display and with each photo a work of art has been made, by an artist other than Pieterson. “Everyone looks at each other differently. I wanted to show that. These artists also made a work of art of the participants, without having seen my work. That produces a completely different picture.”
Pieterson has photographed a number of people with a disability, illness or mental illness. Each photo tells a story, in which the so-called imperfection emerges as something powerful.
One of the participants is Janet Balkestein from Emmen. She suffers from Pure Autonomic Failure (PAF), a progressive disease of her autonomic nervous system, as a result of which she can sometimes lose all energy and literally collapse. To get rid of the disease, Janet wants to follow a therapy in Australia.
Pieterson photographed Janet from the back. She has Photoshopped a corset on her back. Two Australian butterflies open the corset. Symbolic. “The cocoon is opened so that the beautiful butterfly can come out again. And hopefully that’s what the therapy in Australia will do for Janet.”
Pieterson: “We live in a society where social media plays such an important role. And where everyone is made insecure by all kinds of filters that are thrown over everything. Why can’t we accept ourselves as we are; why can’t the world accept us as we are. Because everyone can be there.”
What Pieterson wants to achieve with her art is that people gain more understanding for each other. “I hope that people will start talking to each other and not judge so quickly on the packaging alone.”
MicksArt Collective is open from Wednesday to Saturday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. On Sundays, the gallery is open from 12:00 to 17:00. The exhibition ‘Mirrorology’ can be admired until 30 July.
Watch the video about photographer Dolly Pieterson below