Ceci n’est pas un pipe

Story by Artist: Ruben Vorstenbosch

My displayed work is an ode to the famous painting by René Magritte; 'La Trahison des Images' (The treachery of images), the original is a painting of an old fashioned smoke pipe and under the pipe it reads “Ceci n'est pas une pipe” (This is not a pipe). The painting dates back to 1929 and is made with oil on canvas. Magritte once commented: “The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, isn't it? So if I had written on my picture “This is a pipe”, I'd have been lying!”.This quote really resonated with me in relation to the cause I was assigned; clean drinking water and sanitation.

The irony in the original work was something I wanted to work with, because ofcourse it's real cool to have an image of a pump, but the people need real ones, working ones. I hope my contribution can help make it happen. This is not a pump, it's an image of a pump. If you think it is a pump, please go ahead, try and take a sip or wash your hands under it.