Clive van den BergHolding the Archive, 2016
Clive van den Berg’s sculptural practice emerges from a sustained inquiry into how histories are inscribed on the body and how those inscriptions can be made visible through form. Over the past four decades, Van den Berg has developed a deeply considered body of work that places memory, desire, light, and the politics of visibility at its core. In his sculptures, the body becomes a site of vulnerability and presence – its surface magnified to expose the quiet force of emotion, intimacy, and endurance in the face of social erasure. His works often reflect on the impact of the AIDS crisis and its ongoing resonance within queer experience, offering forms of remembrance and resistance that speak to both personal loss and collective resilience.
Through carved gestures and restrained symbolism, Van den Berg addresses the entanglement of identity and mortality, inviting viewers to consider how tenderness and attentiveness might function as political acts. His sculptures do not offer resolution, but rather hold space for mourning, memory, and ethical reflection.
