Collecting fragility and time: A dialogue of decay and female spirituality

Abstract

This is not a collection was the provocative title of an exhibition (2019) with religious objects in the repurposed Park Abbey in Leuven, Belgium. We were intrigued by a collection of relic holders with aged textile inside them. The gentle care for these fragile objects and their delicate and breakable holders are like metaphors for their changing meaning and interiorized expression. We noticed a similar relationship between vulnerability and careful preservation during the exhibition (2018) It almost seemed a Lily: featuring a unique dialogue between seven recently restored sixteenth century 'Enclosed Gardens' with work of contemporary artist Berlinde De Bruyckere (degrees 1964). Both her work and the original Enclosed Gardens are based on concepts of fragility, texture, the body, and decay.