Exhibition: Proto Zwolle, Sense of Place, locatie 31

Because the ArtEZ school building was closed due to new rules concerning Covid19, I could not work in the academy’s studio. Fortunately, my Mobile Workplace gives me the opportunity to explore nature and use the landscape as a studio. This gives me so much freedom. With my Mobile Workplace I explore various natural locations across the Netherlands, where I connect with the landscape.

To walk is an important way for me to do that, to allow myself to be amazed by the landscape and to really enter nature. The slow pace of walking allows me to take time to stop and look around. To fully absorb the environment. It’s about seeing, not just with your eyes, but with your whole body. Beams of light touching my skin, wind blowing my hair in front of my face, the smell of wet grass or sheep poo, the feeling of bark textures, the sound of swans wings clapping as they take off or the sound of caterpillars gnawing on the leaves from a tree.

When I have collected enough material (also literally, such as leaves) I can make visual work. I make prints. I document colors, textures, patterns, structures, big shapes, lines, tiny details… The leaves give me color in my botanical contact prints, the leaves give me shapes and textures in my monotype prints, the sun gives me photographical prints and shapes of leaves and grasses during the cyanotype process. It is an intimate way of working with different natural materials, which I have a lot of respect for. Working outside is important to me. I really notice how the singing of the birds, the wind, the cold, the sunlight… affect me. I don’t have to stare out the window of my studio, I am already outside.

About the exhibition

For this exhibition I visited the City centre of Zwolle. I walked around with my cart, my Mobile workspace, and let myself be amazed by the surroundings. I have been visiting Zwolle for 7 years now. while I studied there, and I still discover new places, buildings and spaces.

I exhibited my work in a vacant building together with a few other creatives. I felt a little off to exhibit my work not in nature but in a concrete building in the busy city centre. It was a contrast to the useual exhibits. Nonetheless I felt that the exhibition space fit well with my work, because even in a busy city centre like the one in Zwolle, I could find nature around me everywhere.