Breakfast with Daddy
1999 | Dead flies, shellac, 2 halves of a bread roll , 2 breakfast boards, 1 wooden table, 2 chairs | H 74 x W 110 x D 74 cm
In “Breakfast with Daddy” I use a quiet, everyday situation to highlight the horror of sexualised violence. Two halves of a bread roll spread with honey sit on wooden breakfast boards. The honey is sprinkled with dead flies. In contrast to the title of this art piece, and the pictures it conjures of a seemingly safe and perfect world, I confront the viewer with the terror that many children and young people have to cope with on a daily basis.
What does it mean for a little girl, a little boy, to live in a sexually violent situation? How is it possible to sit at the breakfast table opposite the father /rapist (or other familiar person who has abused his or her power)? What kind of psychological splitting, deadening-of-feeling and daily struggles does a small child have to go through to be able to eat and, most importantly, to be able to survive?