What we love, we keep

A thought – the birth of an attitude.

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Sometimes it all starts with a contradiction.
Between art and nature, closeness and distance, possession and preservation.
A single sentence emerged – like a memory from another time:
“What we love, we keep.”

But what happens when what is meant to be loved is long out of sight?
When nature has become a backdrop – beautiful, but distant?

This gave rise to an idea that would change the space:
To bring animals back into human habitats – not as decoration, but as equal counterparts.

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The idea behind Brandhoek

An animal on a sofa is not absurd.
It's a change of perspective.
As long as animals stay outside, the distance remains.
But as soon as they are in our rooms, the balance tips.

The sofa, a symbol of possessions and security, becomes a meeting place.
In this moment the animal loses its strangeness – and man loses his claim to superiority.
Two worlds meet at eye level.

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Art as a silent corrective

Brandhoek was born out of the desire not to decorate, but to remember.
An animal on a sofa contradicts our expectations.
This irritation is intentional.
It forces you to look.
It creates closeness without trivializing.
She shows dignity without pathos.

Art cannot save animals, but it can change perception –
and perhaps that is exactly where the first step towards responsibility begins.

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Between humans and animals

Living spaces are controlled systems: symmetrical, air-conditioned, plannable.
When an animal enters this space, it breaks the perfection.
The sterile order takes on a heartbeat sound.
The wild becomes a mirror.
And what was considered foreign becomes part of one’s own world again.

An early motif showed a lion on an anthracite-colored sofa.
No aggression, no posturing – just calm.
The gaze was not directed at the person, but through him.
At that moment it became clear:
It's not about power, but about presence.

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What we love, we keep

Love is not shown in possession, but in preservation.
What is loved should remain – regardless of who it belongs to.
Perhaps this is the deepest truth behind Brandhoek:
Not to create art that possesses,
but images that remember.

Animals in rooms are not a provocation, but a warning:
They make visible how much proximity entails obligations.
And that beauty is only true when it contains respect.

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What began as a thought became an attitude that remains.

Author: Brandhoek ᛫ February 2022 ᛫ Cape Town

This work—Silent Dominant—is from a previous Brandhoek collection in 2022 and is no longer available. It remains part of the Brandhoek archive—a symbol of the beginning of a new perspective.

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