MANUAL
DISTANT SUFFERING LVV
i.d. of a child’s voice
DISTANT SUFFERING LVV
i.d. of a child’s voice Contact Hans Overvliet e-mail: curiositas@zeelandnet.nl website: www.hansovervliet.com facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hans.overvliet Postal address: Lange Noordstraat 67 NL-4331 CC Middelburg The Netherlands
preface
What has truly unsettled me over the past years has been what we do to children. Not only concerning the poverty and exclusion in my country, but also, and perhaps especially, where adults have an economic and political interest in trying to kill each other. Children are always caught in the middle of this, always without asking. They are terrified, traumatized, injured, they lose their limbs, and are thus left scarred for life. Children are forced to say goodbye to their brothers, sisters, their uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins, their friends, to the safety of their home, their bedroom, their stuffed animals. Often they have to do the most terrible thing imaginable: say goodbye to their parents and thus made into orphans. In all of this, children have no voice. At best, they serve as illustrations for a report, a documentary, or a begging letter. In 2018, I organized a project about the kite with a number of caring colleagues from all over the world. Here you'll find the results, and here you'll find what it brought about on the hell side. The project was also featured in the book "The Kiting Dutchman."* After two years of genocide in Gaza, four years of war crimes in Ukraine, countless years in Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and-so-unfortunately-on, it seemed high time to let the children speak for themselves. Some wonderful colleagues helped me with this: Myuz Achmed and the Acanemy of the Hope Foundation in Gaza, Bo de Jong and Ingrid Rollema in the Netherlands, and Oleg Kharch and Anna Kirilenko in Ukraine.
My suggestion is to let children from the Netherlands, Gaza, and Ukraine, under the guidance of these artists, make a drawing / painting on an A2-sized piece of newspaper within an outline of a so-called Diamond or Eddy kite. Since resources are limited in Ukraine and Gaza, and the media category plays a core role in my work, I suggested working on old newspapers— of course also for identification purposes. The technique used for creating the kites could be anything: everything that the children and the artist felt comfortable with. The kites are first to be shown in ruimteCAESUUR in Middelburg in May 2026. From there, I hope the kites will travel, so that the children's voices can be heard in many places and help us stop the madness of which they are unwillingly and unintentionally victims. We could conclude the project with a sales exhibition, the proceeds of which would of course go to the children in Gaza. Middelburg, 31/12/’35 Hans Overvliet – visual artist *
(Dutch) De Vliegerende Hollander, cultuurgeschiedenis van de Nederlandse vliegerverbeelding vanaf 1600 door Gert-Jan Johannes en Inger Leemans. Prometheus Amsterdam uitgeverij, 2020, ISBN 978 446 463 9 pagina 140 – 141
manual / procedure
First of all: since resources are limited in Ukraine and Gaza, and the media as a category plays a core role in my work, I suggested working on old newspapers—also for identification purposes—that have been painted over with thinned white latex or gesso, so that the letters and photos are just visible. Please see the examples on the next pages. Now, I can easily imagine that newspapers aren't available for children to work on. Or that it is far too complicated to prepare the newspapers in such a way that the children can work with them. Perhaps they could create a kind of "canvas" from the packaging of food, medicine, relief supplies, etc., for the children to work on. This ‘canvas’ of course would need to have A-size (A3/A2) proportions for me printing on A2. Second: the connecting theme is home / house – thanks Bo. Third: the technique used for forming the kites could also be anything: everything that the children and the artist felt comfortable with. From painting to collage, from stamping to drawing.
Third: the technique used for forming the kites could also be anything: everything that the children and the artist felt comfortable with. From painting to collage, from stamping to drawing. Fourth: I will reimburse all costs incurred, as long as they are within reasonable limits. A rickety postal connection can be established with Ukraine; with Gaza, this is impossible. Therefore, the kites from Ukraine and the Netherlands are the originals, and those from Gaza are prints. Myuz Achmed (creating 9 kites) and the Hope Academy (creating 24 kites) are making in Gaza a high-resolution photograph of each work. The artists e-mail all the photos to me. The photos are printed on an A2 sheet in the Netherlands. Using the originals and the A2 prints, I construct the Diamond Eddy kites. 100 in total: 99 made by the children, one by me.
In summary: In three countries – Gaza, the Netherlands and Ukraine – children are making kites, 99 in total, 33 per country. Theme: home / house. In Gaza and Ukraine, the project’s supervisors / artists prepare the newspapers the children will be working on. A layer of diluted Latex or Gesso is applied, for allowing the children to work on. Any technique that children and accompanying artists feel comfortable with can be used. An outline of a kite is projected onto each newspaper—please see example next pages. This outline includes the 4 cm borders to be folded when making the kite. I'll take care of the prepared newspapers in the Netherlands myself. The supervisor in Gaza takes a photo of each kite and emails these to me. I'll have the photos printed on A2 paper. The supervisors in Ukraine will send the painted newspapers to me by registered mail. I'll pick up the newspapers from the supervisors in the Netherlands. Finally, I'll make 99 kites from the prepared newspapers – both prints and originals – and add one kite myself. The paper collage on one of the following pages is my proposal. I will reimburse all costs incurred.
± 20 cm
± 60 cm ± 40 cm
Example of a kite Dimensions approximately 60 x 40 cm
hans overvliet | paper collage | 27 x 20,5 cm | december 31, 2025
colophon Postiljon d'amour for Ukraine / translation of texts | Ana Kirilenko Postiljon d'amour for Hope Foundation | Ingrid Rolema Participating artists From Gaza: Myuz Achmed, From Ukraine: Oleg Kharch, From the Netherlands: Bo de Jong | Anna Kirilenko Exhibition ruimteCAESUUR | Lange Noordstraat 67 | Middelburg | the Netherlands dates At some point, the kites will be auctioned off. The proceeds will go to children in Gaza and Ukraine. Catalogue with all the kites
DISTANT SUFFERING
i.d. of a child’s voice
a project by Anna Kirilenko, Bo de Jong, Myuz Achmed & Hans Overvliet
MANUAL