Mural at the Moot Court

For the Faculty of Law in Groningen in 2023, visual artist Rosa Everts created the mural 'Passage' on either side of the grandstand stairs in the center of the Röling Building. With this mural, she wants to depict the dynamics and diversity of the faculty and law.

Rosa Everts's oeuvre consists of detailed drawings on paper as well as large installations and murals on location. She often uses elements or people she encounters on site.

To create this mural, Everts aimed a bright theater spotlight at the walls along the stairs and had law school employees and students pose so that their shadows were projected on the wall. This shadow she traced over and painted in various shades of gray-blue, then repeated the process. This creates a composition of shadows of people who were in the room at an earlier time. Where the shadows overlap, new shapes emerge, creating an exciting play of forms in which many details can be discovered. However, the colors of the work are muted, so that the work does not dominate the space.

The silhouettes of staff and students of the faculty represent the diversity of people and activities that take place in the building. You can find many recognizable elements and situations in them, for the university in general and the law school in particular. The students in gown with judge's gavel on their way to moot court and the professor with beret are clear examples. More subtle is the cleaning lady with vacuum cleaner whose pose is reminiscent of that of Lady Justice, or the man in suit in which the contours of Bernard Röling (the namesake of the faculty building) can be recognized.

Because of the poses in which the figures are depicted, the work exudes a lot of movement. They really seem to be walking up and down the stairs. Many interactions can also be seen between the different individuals. The work thus depicts the dynamics of the faculty, which fits well with the discipline: after all, law is always in motion. Also, as for law, all persons in this work are equal, and thus all depicted in the same shades of gray-blue.