Paper Soldiers
My father was a professional soldier, collected and made an international army of paper soldiers that he colored by hand. After his death, as a convinced pacifist, I was given access to this army and I used the soldiers to make collages with them. For the collages I used patterns and craft techniques from my youth, which resulted in collages that referred to these techniques.
My grandparents house
The soldiers room was located at my grandparents house. Since the house was built in 1930 this room was always used to accommodate the little paper soldiers. Each of the six brothers collected different nations and armies.
To enlarge the game possibilities, they would glue them on cardboard and onto a wooden board so that they could stand upright. The battlefields of important wars, were methodically and minutiously prepared and re-enacted. They sometimes took weeks to play and could end in an unexpected victory.
(photo: João Ferrand Fotografia)
(photo: João Ferrand Fotografia)
Colónia de Abelhas (‘Bee Colony’)
This varied series of collages with paper soldiers was created in 2003 in response to the news about the deployment of the American army in Iraq. 40.000 soldiers were sent to Iraq on that one day. An amount that was beyond my comprehension. To understand this, I used my father’s paper soldiers
