Artist gives life to Belgian boot-scrapers during pandemic
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One Good Thing Belgian Artist
Belgian artist Elke Lemmens installs a miniature scene of a girl on a horse at the seaside into a boot scraper in Antwerp, Belgium, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020. Belgian artist Elke Lemmens is transforming disused boot scrapers in the port city of Antwerp into miniature scenes depicting what is important in the lives of the owners of the house. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Belgian artist Elke Lemmens installs a miniature scene of a girl on a horse at the seaside into a boot scraper in Antwerp, Belgium, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020. Belgian artist Elke Lemmens is transforming disused boot scrapers in the port city of Antwerp into miniature scenes depicting what is important in the lives of the owners of the house. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
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One Good Thing Belgian Artist
Stef Pottums sits on his step next to a miniature scene of the cell of Belgian writer Roger van de Velde in a boot scraper in Antwerp, Belgium, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020. Belgian artist Elke Lemmens is transforming disused boot scrapers in the port city of Antwerp into miniature scenes depicting what is important in the lives of the owners of the house. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Stef Pottums sits on his step next to a miniature scene of the cell of Belgian writer Roger van de Velde in a boot scraper in Antwerp, Belgium, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020. Belgian artist Elke Lemmens is transforming disused boot scrapers in the port city of Antwerp into miniature scenes depicting what is important in the lives of the owners of the house. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
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One Good Thing Belgian Artist
Belgian artist Elke Lemmens shows a miniature scene of the cell of Belgian writer Roger van de Velde prior to installing it into a boot scraper in Antwerp, Belgium, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020. Belgian artist Elke Lemmens is transforming disused boot scrapers in the port city of Antwerp into miniature scenes depicting what is important in the lives of the owners of the house. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Belgian artist Elke Lemmens shows a miniature scene of the cell of Belgian writer Roger van de Velde prior to installing it into a boot scraper in Antwerp, Belgium, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020. Belgian artist Elke Lemmens is transforming disused boot scrapers in the port city of Antwerp into miniature scenes depicting what is important in the lives of the owners of the house. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
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One Good Thing Belgian Artist
A miniature scene of diversity is set into a boot scraper outside a front door in Antwerp, Belgium, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020. Belgian artist Elke Lemmens is transforming disused boot scrapers in the port city of Antwerp into miniature scenes depicting what is important in the lives of the owners of the house. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
A miniature scene of diversity is set into a boot scraper outside a front door in Antwerp, Belgium, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020. Belgian artist Elke Lemmens is transforming disused boot scrapers in the port city of Antwerp into miniature scenes depicting what is important in the lives of the owners of the house. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
ANTWERP, Belgium (AP) — Life can feel smaller, even tiny during the coronavirus pandemic as public health restrictions limit social contacts to a bare minimum. But Belgian artist Elke Lemmens has found a way to build connections.
She is using a grant from the city of Antwerp to give disused boot-scrapers a second act while bringing extraordinary stories of ordinary lives out into the open.
Lemmens plans to install at least 50 miniature scenes in the old niches outside homes that families once used to clean off their shoes.
One boot-scraper depicts the prison cell of Belgian writer Roger van de Velde. Another scene conveys the dream of a local girl who died at age 9.
