Lint behorend bij Nationale feestrok van Annemie Boissevain 1946

This yellow strip of linen once belonged to the Dutch feminist Annemie Boissevain’s festive national dress. Imagine the anonymous maker, snipping and stitching away, trying to get it just right. What was she thinking? Maybe it was the 1930s, and she was thinking about the rise of fascism, or perhaps just the gossip in town. But I bet she was also thinking about the feel of the fabric, the way the light catches on the threads, the subtle variations in color. It’s all in there, in the materiality of the thing. That torn edge tells a story, doesn't it? It's a conversation across time. And now, here we are, looking at it, decades later, bringing our own thoughts and feelings to it. It's like she is speaking to us, sharing a bit of her world, a bit of herself. Art, even in the form of a simple strip of fabric, is never really finished, is it? It’s always open to new interpretations, new meanings.