Sander Coers: Obituary no.09, 2024

Description

Sander Coers [b. 1997] is an artist working with photography based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, whose work balances the borders of documentary and fiction. With a tender gaze, he seeks to establish new perspectives on masculinity by visualizing, revisiting, and (de)constructing memories in melancholic and highly romanticized worlds that possess a cinematic quality. With the coming-of-age theme recurring throughout his work, he reflects on stories of love, friendship, and self-acceptance drawn from his family, friends, and peers. Coers’ visual language is deeply inspired by nostalgic memories of his youth in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, infusing vivid hues and profound emotions into his portraits, stills, and landscapes, creating dream-like and melancholic worlds.

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Obituary Chapter

“A recurring color palette, extracted from the photograph of my grandfather’s passing, unifies the works in Eulogy. This colour reappears in UV-printed archival photos on ceramic tiles and in oil paint on UV-printed plywood, creating a visual thread that links the pieces. Derived from a moment of trauma, this colour palette brings an emotional resonance, connecting the project’s diverse materials and evoking the layered nature of memory.

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.

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

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For all print enquiries or to see the full series, contact:

tom@opendoors.gallery