Brief aan de leden van de Staten Generaal 1948

This letter was made by the Gemeenschappelijke Actie van Nederlandse Vrouwen, probably using a typewriter, to address members of the Staten Generaal. The tone is formal, proper, even a little stiff. But I bet they were feeling passionate when they wrote it! The texture of the paper is visible; you can almost feel it. It’s aged, and it gives the letter a certain gravitas. Think about the mark-making here as an act of translation. These women took something complex, their feelings, and distilled it into text, line by line. The letter is dense, packed with information, but it’s also a plea, a cry for help. That opening line, though: "Het is genoegzaam bekend…” It’s like saying, “We all know what’s up.” It’s confrontational, but in a very Dutch, very polite way. You could compare this direct approach to the work of Jenny Holzer, who uses text to provoke thought and challenge assumptions, stripping language down to its barest form. Both artists use the power of words to make us stop and think. But where Holzer’s work is stark, this has the additional layers of history, bureaucracy, and… the weight of care.