Portræt af min moder 1900 - 1943

Axel Hou made this delicate etching of his mother at an unknown date. Looking at the density of tiny hatched lines that build up her dark, voluminous hat, I can only imagine the artist, Axel Hou, hunched over a copper plate, patiently building tone, one tiny stroke at a time. What might he have been thinking about? The etcher’s needle almost seems to caress her face, which has a softer and more open, vulnerable quality. It's like he wanted to protect her, and yet also see her clearly. It can’t have been easy to see your own mother so nakedly. The cross-hatching gives a sense of depth, volume, and presence. It reminds me of the work of other printmakers like Whistler or Käthe Kollwitz. Artists are always in dialogue, aren't they? Seeing, responding, and building upon each other's work across time. The best art always embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, and this etching leaves plenty of room for interpretation.