Zelfportret met geheven handen zwevend in een landschap 1941

Henk Henriët drew this self-portrait with graphite on paper; a figure hovers in an open landscape, hands raised, as if in supplication or… maybe he’s catching a ball? I love the way it looks like he’s flying, horizontal to the ground, but the shadow beneath him suggests something more complicated, a kind of awkward weight or presence. The drawing is tentative, like he's feeling his way through something, but the portrait is also incredibly brave. It makes me think about the act of drawing oneself, literally projecting one’s own image into the world. Henriët made this drawing while imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, which recontextualizes the picture. The other prisoners appear as tiny figures in the background, giving a sense of isolation or dreamlike suspension. I wonder if it gave him a sense of hope or freedom to draw himself hovering over the landscape, rather than stuck in it? I find this artist's attempt at self-representation very moving.