Berlinde de Bruyckere is a sculptor from Gent in Belgium, whose wild and sensual figures are formed using a melange of natural materials such as animal pelts, hair, wood and wax. For Haider Ackermann’s A#3, a series of Berlinde’s work was photographed by Mirjam Devriendt, with some pieces shot from two contrasting angles to add impact and offer multiple perspectives. Berlinde is the wife of Peter Buggenhout, the installation artist who we featured here, also published in A#3.

Berlinde works with the idea of protection, and previous works have included blankets as the main vehicle for this -

“To me, a blanket is a symbol of security. It has a soul, which usually has a positive connotation. A blanket tucks you in; you feel like the child sitting indoors while it’s raining outside. I also use the blanket as a negative object. You can give someone so much love and safety that it smothers him, that he can no longer find himself. Lying under a pile of blankets can be disorienting! I like to play with that ambiguity in my work.”

However here the chosen works are all human figures, in various introverted poses – seated or standing – also exhibiting the theme of security and protection and the attempt at finding it when in an exposed state. The figures appear cold and possibly even dead, with their mottled skin highlighting protruding bones in oily rose hues, mossy greens and chalky greys with almost whitewashed finishes.
The first character ‘Hanne’ has a head of matted horsehair that reaches to her ankles, and she stands suspended on a wall shelf, grasping her tresses to her naked form in a protective pose. ‘Hanne’ is seated in a foetal position with her hair hanging metres below her curled frame, and ‘La Femme Sans Tête’ echoes this pose, yet in a more abstract form. The works however static seem almost theatrical, as though each statue has been frozen mid-pose in an interpretive dance or performance art piece, their physicality exaggerated and strained.