herman de vries -- works

2007 - renata
description
'renata', 2007
mixed media (ash rubbing), 100 × 140 cm
Galerie Aline Vidal, Paris.
exhibited
Schloss Moyland, Bedburg Hau (2009) / Kunsthalle Schweinfurt (2010)
text
renata was a nun at the unterzell convent near würzburg. she was found guilty of having bewitched some of her hysterical fellow nuns. she was beaten with a consecrated whip, tortured, condemned and burnt at the age of 69, on 21 june 1749. she was the last witch to be killed in the german kingdom of church and justice. her pyre was lit on barrels of used pitch in a quarry, the "witches' quarry". my former assistant Lisa Pliess found for me the remains of the pyre in that quarry, about a foot under the ground. this rubbing was made with the remains of ashes. renata's name was never cleared by her convent and the church. the ashes remind us of the thousands of injustices committed in the name of faith and its superstitions. amen.