Destroy my face
This video is a response to the heavily criticized artwork by Erik Kessels: ‘Destroy My Face’. In this work he placed 60 portraits rendered through an algorithm of 800 images of (mostly) women and men who have undergone plastic surgery. These images were plastered over a skatepark. The idea was for skaters to ride on the installation and shred it to pieces in the progress. ‘What was once made beautiful can easily be destroyed again.’
The project faced major backlash and in an open letter addressed to Kessels, BredaPhoto and Pier15 skatepark, a group of artists, designers, photographers, and other creatives criticised 'Destroy My Face' for its endorsement of violence against women, demanding an explanation.
“Status after one day skating!” reads an Instagram post from Kessels, showing close-ups of the damage already done.
After a couple of days the skatepark decided - under immense pressure of social media and from their financiers - to remove the project.
My work was meant to ironically put a spin to his own message and further the conversation. By replacing the generated women with the face of Kessels, you see the gravity of destroying someone. Given the backlash Kessels was given, you can even say my work visualizes how his work destroyed his career.
After posting this video to my Instagram it quickly gained momentum and was shared over 700 times and viewed by over 2700 people.
The conversation could continue.
A special thank to the skaters at Park Pompenburg Rotterdam
My work was mentioned in an article by BN De Stem
