Memento 63 (Butler, PA) is the final work in Emmanuel Van der Auwera’s Memento series. Like the works that precede it, the image transforms with the viewer’s position: from some angles, it appears vividly clear; from others, it grows increasingly obscured until it dissolves entirely into a black monochrome. Notably, this is the only black-toned piece in the series.

The image etched into the plate is the haunting, instantly iconic portrait of Donald Trump—fist raised, cheek bloodied—captured moments after surviving an assassination attempt on the campaign trail in Butler, Pennsylvania. Within the Memento series, this image falls into the visual lineage of the so-called “accidental Renaissance,” a term that began as a meme and now describes certain chaotic yet compositionally classical photographs—like this one or images from the January 6th Capitol insurrection.

In 2021, Van der Auwera produced several large-scale Memento works centered on these “accidental Renaissance” moments: scenes of crowds flooding the Capitol, brandishing improvised weapons and American flags, faces obscured by sunglasses and MAGA hats. The result is a distinctly 21st-century reinterpretation of political history painting—echoing the spirit of Delacroix, Goya, or Rubens, but rendered through the aesthetics and mechanized processes of contemporary mass media.

With Memento 63 (Butler, PA), Van der Auwera closes the series with a searing reflection on violence, mythmaking, and the visual language of modern history. Today, the image evokes shock and urgency; in the years to come—especially as Trump’s policies threaten to reshape government and global alliances—it may come to symbolize a pivotal rupture in the democratic and geopolitical order.