2022, Softcover, 28 Pages

Text in English

Price: $15

Dutch jeweler Rian de Jong often uses her work to tackle controversial moral and social issues. In her provocative new series, triggered, she takes on the politically fraught topic of gun control. 

Symbols for blood figure prominently in triggered. A series of brooches modelled in clay take the shape of revolvers displaying red-pigmented barrels and grips. Another pistol is assembled from red sticks of wax. The most graphic depiction of blood, however, is seen in a large hand gun, constructed out of blackberry bush branches, from which red threads terminating in clay droplets descend. In fact, if one doesn’t handle this object with extreme care, the stems’ sharp thorns will painfully pierce the skin, drawing the real thing.