‘Final Easter’

‘Final Easter’ was the chosen title of the April 19–28 Holy Week Art Exhibition at Arnim’s Art Galleria LTD, Port of Spain, featuring the work of Michiel van Hout.

Michiel van Hout is an artist, author, and cultural scholar from the Netherlands who specialises in religious art. After graduating in Arts & Culture at the University of Maastricht in 2005, he started as a freelance artist, besides working for several Christian media.

In 2012, Michiel married Trinidadian Christianne Pollonais, and the couple settled in Trinidad a year later. While here, van Hout taught Art & Design, and later started the Holy Week Art Exhibition, the largest annual exhibition of contemporary religious art in Trinidad & Tobago. The exhibition celebrated several successful editions, raised attention for this important genre, and led to valuable collaborations with several local artists.

Last year, van Hout visited Trinidad to say goodbye to his beloved parents-in-law, René and June Pollonais, who both passed away in 2021. The artist dedicated  ‘Final Easter’ to their memory.

Michiel and Christianne now work and live with their daughter Aemilia and son Lucas in Oxford, England.

‘Final Easter’ not only focussed on Christ’s Passion but also on His Resurrection, said a brief from the host gallery. “ ‘Final Easter’ is a show full of variations and paradoxes of old and new, far and near, life and death. How sorrow turns into joy, how forgiveness can follow sin, how fasting leads to satisfaction, how loneliness leads to recognition of others, how suffering purifies love, and how new life overcomes death and disease.”

Here are some pieces from ‘Final Easter’.