NatureUntitled, 2015-…
When I was working on my project Evoking Young Vincent (2013-2014) my relationship with nature and my work changed. While photographing the natural landscapes Vincent van Gogh walked as a young man, I felt that I was an integral part of the natural world. I totally lost my sense of self and experienced a vivid connection to nature’s elemental organisms. It led me to investigate the sublime experience and the intrinsicality of nature and its representation in art, philosophy, science, and popular culture. How do these images affect relationships and experiences within and with the natural world, and how do we recognize our correlation to its web?
As an artist I use imagination to create a visual network, combining my images, factual and scientific information, mythological and philosophical ideas with experiences of nature.
This framework guides the project, whereby complexity, transformation, connectivity and interaction are leading themes. Furthermore, the more-than-human world, a touch of animism and an ecocentric viewpoint are pertinent. There are and will be many more works to come, a community through images, art, the senses and ideas.
Due to the scope and the many unknowns, the working title of this project is Nature Untitled. It already has seen many iterations, such as:
https://hannekevanvelzen.com/rocksolid-2024/
https://hannekevanvelzen.com/category/projects_exhibitions/still_water_watching/.
Here one of the first concepts for an installation, whereby the work inside the space intertwines with what is outside in the surrounding natural environment.
Soon the NatureUntitled project will get its own website, newsletter and blog, where poetry, philosophy and stories will meet images, experiences and ideas. If you like to keep informed, send me your name and email address: studio@hannekevanvelzen.com.