Ontvangstbewijs Possibly 1943 - 1948

This 'Ontvangstbewijs', or receipt, was made by the Amsterdam police. It’s a small bureaucratic document with handwriting and stamps, less an artwork, more a memento of a life. I'm thinking about the hand that wrote this. The author's hand probably trembled. Did the author understand what was happening? Was this act of writing somehow complicit? Were they also forced? The form is neatly organized, but the handwriting veers from careful to hasty, suggesting a mix of official duty and personal urgency. I see a dialogue between control and chaos. There’s a strange beauty in the way the information is laid out, almost like a minimalist composition. The stamps and signatures add layers of meaning, like the artist is in a conversation with themselves, marking a moment in time, recording an event. And it makes me think about all the other artists who have used text in their work, like Cy Twombly, Basquiat, or Jenny Holzer. Each in their own way playing with language and meaning. We are all in a conversation with each other, and it is our duty to make our voices heard.