Mural Aletta Jacobs on Broerstraat
VAAF (Lotte Masker, Jonna Bo Lammers)
About this artwork.
On a wall on Broerstraat, between the University Library and the University Shop, a large mural, measuring 14 by 8 metres, has been painted. Aletta Jacobs is central to this: the first female doctor to graduate and the first PhD student in the Netherlands. Depicted are Aletta Jacobs' enrollment at the university, an illustration of the cover of her book The Woman, Her Build and Her Internal Organs, and two portraits of her, young and old. The mural expresses the struggle Jacobs fought in her time, and how that struggle continues in our time.
In the first portrait, for example, Aletta Jacobs is the only woman among a group of men. The whole looks like a group photo, where it is striking that the men have no faces, no identity. This expresses that we only remember Jacobs; we have forgotten about the men.
In the second portrait, of a younger Jacobs, she wears a t-shirt that reads 'Studying is for ugly girls'. This refers to a quote from an article that appeared in the Studenten Weekblad in 1871 (the year in which Jacobs enrolled). That quote is also on her shirt, and roughly translates to: 'studying is for ugly women'. Had Jacobs been alive today, she might well have responded to such a statement in a playful way by wearing a t-shirt of it.
About the assignment.
The mural was commissioned by the University of Groningen. The artwork was made possible by the University of Groningen, the National Science Agenda (NWA), Kunstpunt Groningen and the Municipality of Groningen.
To create the mural, an art committee came to VAAF, a Groningen illustration duo consisting of Lotte Masker and Jonna Bo Lammers. The question to VAAF was to portray Aletta Jacobs in such a way that the significance she had in social life would also be expressed.
The painting by Aletta Jacobs is the first in a series of murals, which aim to make the scientific character of Groningen more visible in public space.
Part of route.
Location.
Broerstraat
Facts & Figures.
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Design
VAAF (Lotte Masker, Jonna Bo Lammers) -
District
Centrum -
Year of creation
2022 -
Material
Paint -
Dimensions
14 x 8 meter