Meshac Gaba
Op Hoogte Gedacht

For the cemetery in the hamlet of Wierhuizen in the north of the province of Groningen, the artist Meshac Gaba, who comes from Benin and now lives in Amsterdam, has made a copy of the skeleton of the church that once stood in his native city of Cotonou. The church once stood on an artificial mound but was demolished after a devastating flood in 1717. The skeleton, smaller than the original in Benin, is golden - a reference to the glow that religions traditionally exuded in the West. Placed in the middle of the sculpture are two chairs and a table, symbolising a new encounter between a once colonised country and the Western world. Instead of religion and the community of believers, what this is about is man meeting man.

The work of art is part of the Op Hoogte Gedacht project commissioned by the Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken.