Eternal Flame Drawings, 2018

Series of 7 drawings. Pencil on paper.

Tomb of the Unborn Child, 50x70 cm.
Eternal Flame of Freedom, 70x50 cm.
Flame of Democracy, 70x50 cm.
Flame of Hope, 70x50 cm.
Peace Flame, 50x70 cm.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, 70x50 cm.
Extinguished Flame, 70x50 cm.

In 7 works on paper Hesselholdt & Mejlvang explores various eternal flames and their purposes. Amongst them The Flame of Hope in Ontario, honouring Sir Frederick Banting’s discovery of insulin and those affected by diabetes. It also serves as a reminder that insulin controls diabetes but does not cure it. Ultimately it stands for the hope that a cure will be found soon. It will be extinguished if a cure for diabetes is found, by the team responsible for finding a cure. In Chile The Eternal Flame of Liberty is extinguished. It was lit in 1975 by the dictator Augusto Pinochet to commemorate the Chilean coup d’état against Salvador Allende. It was part of a larger monument called Alter of the Fatherland and was a symbol of the military dictatorship that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. It was extinguished in 2004. The works on paper present meticulous drawings of the flames with handwritten texts.

Included in the solo show Eternal Flame, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark (2018).

Photo: Lior Zilberstein + V1 Gallery.