Eulogy

SANDER COERS

With each new body of work, Sander Coers pushes further into the emotional terrain of memory and identity. Eulogy marks his most ambitious project to date — a multi-chapter, multimedia exploration of intergenerational and postcolonial trauma, rooted in his family’s archive. Blending photography, ceramics, weaving, and machine learning, Coers transforms personal relics into vessels of collective memory, revealing how the echoes of the past continue to shape the emotional and cultural landscapes of the present.

“Eulogy explores intergenerational and postcolonial trauma by using my family’s history as a lens to examine collective trauma and memory, revealing how these forces shape identity and emotional expression across generations. The project began with a photograph in the Bali Post, showing my grandfather in a body bag, becoming the catalyst for my research into the silences, losses, and memories that have shaped my family.
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Sander Coers, Eulogy

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The project centers on my family’s archive—photographs, letters, documents, and objects. A 1948 boarding pass marks my grandfather’s migration from Indonesia to the Netherlands, underscoring the trauma of settling in a foreign land. Through these relics, I explore how personal histories interweave with collective trauma.

The series is made up of many chapters, using photography, textiles, wood, ceramics, and AI, I interpret these themes. In one piece, AI-generated memories are UV-printed onto wooden panels. Jacquard-woven tapestries from my grandfather’s photograph reflect memory’s selective nature, adding layers of meaning. Handmade collages from archival photos and letters convey history’s complex, evolving nature. In Cadzand. 1983, a collage is processed through AI, reshaping the image. I view AI as a form of collective memory, supplementing my family’s stories and symbolizing masculinity, trauma, and memory.

A colour palette, extracted from my grandfather’s photograph, unifies Eulogy through UV-printed photos on ceramic tiles and oil-painted plywood, linking a diverse range of materials. Early in 2024, I travelled to Indonesia to visit family sites, deepening my understanding of trauma that still resonates, especially in places tied to colonialism and my grandfather’s memory.”
— Sander Coers, 2025

Sander Coers, Eulogy

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Sander Coers: The Gathering no.01, 2025

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Sander Coers: The Gathering no.12, 2025

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Sander Coers: The Gathering no.14, 2025

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Sander Coers: The Gathering no.05, 2025

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Sander Coers: The Gathering no.13, 2025

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Sander Coers: The Gathering no.10, 2025

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Sander Coers: Obituary no.07, 2024

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Sander Coers: Obituary no.08, 2024

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Sander Coers: Obituary no.09, 2024

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