Milena Anna Bouma (1994) is fascinated by the identity of objects. In her work she often uses everyday household items like drying racks and ironing boards, and researches how these might take on new shapes and meanings when transposed to different contexts and reworked in unorthodox materials. She is furthermore interested in time, especially in how the identity of objects is either passed on or transformed over its course. This, after all, not only reveals something about the object itself, but even more about how it is treated by us humans.
For her installation The Embodiment of Sunshine (2024), Bouma focused on an archaeological find: a little bear carved from amber. Measuring about 10 cm wide and 3.5 cm high, the statuette dates from a period between 9600 and 4100 BC, and was probably once made to serve as a hunter’s talisman. To Bouma, the object evoked associations with the iconic ‘Haribo Gold Bear’ sweets. The artist made twelve large-format replicas of the talisman in various colours of glass, as well as a scaled-up Haribo confectionary bag. Past and present were thus merged to form ‘archaeological sweets’ that, among other things, raise questions about the relationship between past and present.
Text: Esther Darley
Translation from Dutch to English: Marie Louise Schoondergang