Painting ‘MH17’

On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, en route from Schiphol Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot out of the sky over eastern Ukraine. All 298 occupants, both crew and passengers were killed. Because the plane took off from Schiphol Airport, there were many Dutch nationals among the victims, 193 to be exact, but also 43 Malaysians (including the 15 crew members), 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, 10 British, 4 Belgians, 4 Germans, 3 Filipinos, 1 Canadian and 1 New Zealander. July 23, 2014 was a day of National Mourning in the Netherlands. November 10, 2014, the National Commemoration was held at the RAI in Amsterdam. After that, each year there is a more private commemoration for relatives and those involved. Three years after the air disaster, Monday, July 17, 2017, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, unveiled the National Monument in Vijfhuizen; a forest of 298 trees in the form of a memorial ribbon with one tree for each victim.

Note: The official Malaysia Airlines passenger list was used to list all names and nationalities.

In this work I wanted to express my disgust regarding this event. The image of improvised markings (in the form of a branch with white cloth or plastic bag tied to it) in a huge field of grain is still etched in my memory. For me, this image symbolizes the futility of this attack. I depicted the desolate plain of the grain field in war colors. The bodies of loved ones were scattered everywhere and the war situation made it impossible to properly recover them for a long time. 298 lives that should not be forgotten. I incorporated them all with initials, passenger number and country code (see the detail photo) into this painting.