A work that grows out of the place itself

For *Womb of Time*, Jennifer Tee takes the Vilain XIIII Castle Estate as her starting point – a place with a rich history and a distinctive array of trees. Whilst exploring the estate, she selected leaves from various trees, the imprints of which she incorporated into bricks. The result is a sculpture that not only stands within the landscape, but also literally bears traces of it.

With this work, Tee translates her internationally acclaimed Tampan Tulip collages into a public sculpture in brick for the first time. The result is a tranquil work in which organic forms, material and time converge.

Between the past and renewal

The sculpture also embodies the history of the site. The estate was once home to a maternity hospital, a place that lives on in the collective memory of many. By incorporating bricks from that former maternity hospital into the artwork, Tee connects the site’s past with its new future.

The work builds a meaningful bridge between nature and the history of the former maternity hospital on the site. Whilst the building is disappearing, the sculpture anchors this place in the landscape in a new way. By incorporating bricks from the maternity hospital into the artwork, the past remains present and a dialogue is created between art and its surroundings.

In the work, the landscape breathes alongside it: leaves become bricks, time becomes tangible. She turns the leaves, as it were, into a compass: they point us towards what remains, what disappears and what begins anew.

In Maasmechelen, Jennifer Tee adds a new work that does not dominate the landscape, but rather slows it down and deepens it. Her sculpture invites visitors to reflect on what a place preserves, loses and allows to emerge anew.

ABOUT JENNIFER TEE

Jennifer Tee is a Dutch artist with an international profile. In her work, she often explores the relationship between nature, ritual, symbolism and craftsmanship. She works with sculpture, installation, collage and drawing, and creates layered images in which material and meaning are closely intertwined.