Necklace designed and produced by goldsmiths Audi Pauwels and Kitty Spaenjers, 2017
Unique Piece
Stones: black quartz
Necklace: silver 925, 3,8gr, gold 750
Length: 49 cm
Dimensions Cross: 33 x 49 mm - Square: 15 x 15 mm
Weight: 35 gr
Huis Pauwels-Spaenjers - Black Cross
Unique piece made to the occasin of the exhibition Black to the Future by Het Labo collective in 2017.
The cross refers to the Virga Jesse Year in the Belgian city of Hasselt. The Virga Jesse procession is part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Flanders and is held every seven years since 1682 , in honor of the Saint Mary, Virga Jesse.
Each neighbourhood committee, called a rot, comes together to decorate the streets on a chosen theme. Audi Pauwels and Kitty Spaenjers were inspired by the poem Hezekiah Jones (aka Black Cross) by Joseph Simon Newman, treating mutual respect between neighbours:
"You don't believe nothin'," said the white man's preacher.
"Oh yes I do," said Hezekiah,
"I believe that a man should be beholding to his neighbor
Without the reward of Heaven or the fear of hell fire."