Land van Hoboke 1940

Alie Rondberg-Vrauwdêunt's “Land van Hoboke” is a curious collage of two black and white photographs pasted onto a pale, creamy page, probably from a scrapbook or journal. It’s about contrasts, right? One image shows a street scene, all buildings and bustling activity. The other, rubble. What was once there has been replaced with, well, nothing. Rondberg-Vrauwdêunt doesn’t try to hide the edges or blend the images; the photos are simply stuck on the page, raw and unadorned. Even the slight angle at which they’re placed feels deliberate, as if to disrupt any easy reading. The handwritten caption, “Land van Hoboke,” adds a personal touch, suggesting a specific place or memory. It reminds me of Kurt Schwitters, how he would use scraps of the everyday to make something new, something that makes you stop and think. "Land van Hoboke" is about change, loss, memory, and the sometimes messy process of artmaking itself.