Van Schoonhoven series 2021 -2025

"Keep Me clean, Use Me well, What I see, I’ll never tell" are often found on toilet seats. They remind users to leave no trace behind and imagine the seat as if it has eyes and can "see." The message personifies the toilet seat, making it feel like a silent observer. It suggests a deal: if you keep the seat clean, it will keep your secrets.

Within the Schoonhoven series, I wanted to explore this concept in a different way, not by showcasing toilet seats, but by making the dirt itself look back at you. I created a series of mirrors with fish-eye and overgrowing structures, evoking the presence of dirt and bodily traces that we typically try to erase. These mirrors, sized similarly to bathroom mirrors, reference the minimalist work of Jan Schoonhoven, who erased traces of the artist's hand. In contrast, my work embraces the bodily marks left behind, exploring the tension between the performative act of cleaning and the deeper societal forces that demand it. Through this, I highlight how cleanliness is not just a personal ritual but also a socially constructed concept that can be both liberating and oppressive.

The impulse to sanitize speaks to historical processes of erasure, as well as the pressure to conform to idealized standards of the body. Using materials like latex, silicone, and mirrors, I emphasize the fleshy, visceral aspects of the body, contrasting these with the sterile, clinical surfaces we associate with hygiene. This material tension reveals the vulnerability that rituals of cleanliness often attempt to conceal, offering a critique of the power structures shaping our relationship with the body, identity, and the “other.” By focusing on the bodily traces we leave behind, my work calls for a deeper reflection on how societal norms dictate our engagement with our own physicality, as well as the stigmatization of bodies that don't conform to idealized standards.