STATEMENT FOR RESPECT AND HUMAN DIGNITY
Heinz Zolper is a German artist who has been campaigning for women and gender rights for decades, fundamentally for human rights through the means of art. The European Artforum Culture Foundation accompanies and supports the artist in his project in cooperation with Winter Foundation Hamburg and other foundations or groups. Respect and human dignity are inalienable values that the society – and therefore every single person – must defend. That’s the reason why a particular concern of the artist is to sensitize and win over the public for the necessity of such engagement.
An important project that demands the support of many people, especially of municipalities, states and the federal government, is dedicated to the creation and installation of lively memorials in social spaces. A striking sign for that is the stylized portrait of a lady (Zolper call her “Dame”), which is part of the artist’s iconography in painting, repeatedly varied with different attributes. At the same time, Zolper transferred this symbol to other disciplines such as graphics or sculpture.
Andy Warhol, who had admired Zolper – and vice versa – had already valued the importance of the lady symbol as a trademark of socio-political positioning. Now, in collaboration with ArtForum Editions, the artist has designed a multiple that can be worn as a jewelry pin. The multiple is handmade from enamel on iron, height 5 cm, signed by the artist on the reverse. The “lady as a symbol” is not only a work of art and a wonderful piece of jewelry, but it enables its wearer to take a position for mutual respect, for the need for emancipation and gender justice, for social commitment and an indefatigable commitment to human rights – all of them fragile values that need to be strengthened.
The multiple can be ordered directly online at a subscription price of 50 euros I 60 USD per object from H.Z@lper.de or by mail to info(at)artforum-culture-foundation.org or to winterstiftung(at)web.de. Proceeds flow into the non-profit project for memorials in public spaces. If you would like to support the project in addition, please transfer your donation under the keyword “human dignity” to our foundation account. Your donations are tax deductible.
PM I see also: Jürgen Raap, in: Kunstforum International, Lady’s symbol as a jewelry pin, 11/11/2020