I never sat on a terrace tohether with my mother, or in a beautiful heated beach pavilion. When I was young, in the seventies, you didn’t do it, and later that was no longer possible because she passed away on a young age. We never have traveled together. The journey I am now making with my tribute to her, a huge replica of her head, feels like being together. We cross through the Netherlands from south to north, literally, from Maastricht to Ameland.

It’s pure fantasy, but that’s what it feels like to me. If I go a step further in my imagination, this image can represent all mothers and even Mother Earth: Pachamama. From a concrete memory of mine, she has become a spiritual image for everyone. From Rietje Spierings, born in 1934, she now exists as Pachamama, in 2024. From Rietje Spierings, born in 1934, she now exists as Pachamama, in 2024.

You can join this journey: Write a letter to your mother or to Pachamama. A giant mailbox is waiting for you. Post the letter you have always wanted to write. Without names or sender if you want. All letters get a beautiful resting place for eternity. And I would find it a comforting thought to bundle a number of them – completely anonymously –in ‘A book full of memories’.