Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague
In September 2023, I presented my design titled Portal to Safety, during the awarding of the Medal for Acts of Humanity in gold by Prime Minister Mark Rutte to Edith and Rob Zwartendijk, the daughter and son of Jan Zwartendijk. Jan Zwartendijk helped thousands of Jews escape from Lithuania in 1940 by issuing them false visas. In 2018, I created a Monument for Jan Zwartendijk in Kaunas, Lithuania
In the design, I turned the temporary consulate, the building in Kaunas where fake visas were issued, into a symbol. The building is made up of vertical, transparent strips of dichroic glass. The dichroic glass changes colour, depending on where you stand. The memorial was unveiled in the entrance hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague on 23 May 2024. The place where people go to get their identity papers.
Dim. 188 x 70 x 76 cm
Natural stone and dichroic glass
View credits
Realisation in collaboration with Joshua Pettiti, Daichi Fuwa, Saki Nishisaka, Ektor Ntourako and Van Luijn Natuursteen.
Photography: Lena Drukker and Jannes Linders