Art piece of the month: Batik Moon Rising
Each month, curator Virginia Hameleers selects a work from the SCHUNCK collection that inspires, fascinates, or engages her in some way. A piece too beautiful not to share. For the month of December, this is Batik Moon Rising (2024) by Hadassah Emmerich.
"Artist Hadassah Emmerich, of German-Dutch and Chinese-Indonesian descent, grew up in Heerlen as a teenager. Much of her artistic exploration stems from that period. Indonesian traditions and discussions about the history of the Dutch East Indies largely remained in the background at the time, representing an unknown territory for Emmerich — one she was eager to explore. Who am I? What is the ‘exotic’? Who is the other? Initially, she approached these questions in her work through figurative representations, but in her more recent pieces, we see a shift toward a more abstract form of expression. This allows her to maintain some distance from her work."
The triptych Batik Moon Rising, acquired by SCHUNCK in 2024, was created using digital image editing and unique printing techniques. Employing stencils cut from floor vinyl, Emmerich printed colorful shapes onto the canvas that evoke associations with the female body, as well as fruit, flowers, and other botanical elements.
Hadassah Emmerich, Batik Moon Rising, 2024, waskrijt, blockprint en olieverf op linnen, collectie SCHUNCK, gemeente Heerlen. Fotografie: Joep Jacobs.
About Hadassah Emmerich
Hadassah Emmerich (1974, Heerlen) lives and works in Brussels. She studied at the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts (1993-1997), the Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp (1997-2000), and Goldsmiths College in London (2003-2005). In 2006, she completed a residency at Antena Projects in Yogyakarta, and in 2014 at Instituto Buena Bista in Curaçao. Emmerich has been awarded the Parkstad Limburg Prize (2000) and the Fritschy Prize (2006).