THE HIBERNATORS by Ruth van Beek

Ruth van Beek has been collecting photographs from all over the place for years. Newspaper clippings, amateur family pictures, images from old books and the internet. She puts them together in an ever-growing archive. The archive is chaotic and fluent. Subjects range from family life, landscape, archeological findings, natural disasters, spectacular findings, flower arrangement and handcraft instructions. The Hibernators are an animal species made from pictures of small common pets. Cats, guinea pigs, rabbits and dogs. The kind you find in many homes and that are beloved and pampered by their owners. Animals in the photos are brought back to life by cutting and folding the paper. Instead of being released, they are restrained once more in a new shape. This way they become creatures that are silent like stones, but that also show a tension. The moment before awaking. They want to move, they have tasted freedom!