Permanent work for Spirefestival and Fællesmark, Tuse Næs 2023

Vision of the Hereafter (2023). Installation view. Egg tempera with linseed oil on wood. Bitumen roofing sheet.

Vision of the Hereafter (2023). Triptych. Egg tempera with linseed oil on wood.

Vision of the Hereafter (2023). Detail. Egg tempera with linseed oil on wood.

Vision of the Hereafter (2023). Back side.

Vision of the Hereafter (2023). Detail. Egg tempera with linseed oil on wood. 

Vision of the Hereafter (2023). Detail. Egg tempera with linseed oil on wood. 

In a context focused on sustainability and biodiversity, the painting plays with the idea of whether animals and plants have inner experiences and perhaps a connection to the same realms of consciousness after death, as they transform into another substance.

The idea is inspired by recent neuroscience research on consciousness and cognition as something not limited to humans. The painting depicts figures that are hybrids of plants, insects, and humans. The motif has an art-historical reference to “Four Visions of the Hereafter” by Hieronymus Bosch, where one of the visions depicts an intermediate stage after death before ascending to heaven, which occurs through a tunnel of light. Tunnels of light are also known from contemporary descriptions of near-death experiences.