Clive van den BergBook of Glands, 2019
Clive van den Berg’s ‘Book of Glands’ takes the form of a carved wooden sculpture gilded in gold leaf, its open pages bearing the image of a gland – an anatomical reference layered with symbolic meaning. The book serves as a powerful metaphor for an unacknowledged queer archive, one marked by silence, omission, and the weight of loss. By inscribing the image of a gland, Van den Berg draws attention to the body as both site and witness, evoking the physical vulnerability associated with the HIV/AIDS crisis. In this context, the gland functions as a subtle but potent emblem of corporeal fragility and the politics of exposure, inviting reflection on how histories of illness, intimacy, and identity are recorded – or more often, left out – of dominant narratives.
The use of gold leaf lends the work a quiet luminosity, transforming the sculpture into an object of reverence. Traditionally associated with sanctity and commemoration, gold here acts as a material of memorialisation, elevating what might otherwise remain unseen or unspoken. This gilding is not ornamental but purposeful, offering a sense of dignity to marginalised histories and lives lost to neglect or prejudice. As in much of Van den Berg’s sculptural practice, ‘Book of Glands’ resists linear storytelling, instead offering a tactile meditation on grief, resilience, and the necessity of remembrance.
