PROJECT HOLLOWAYS
EN
location : latitude 50° 46’ 25’’ | longitude 4° 51’ 39’’
duration : 2018 - 2020
medium : book | landscape map | digitaal
duration : 2018 - 2020
medium : book | landscape map | digitaal
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In my work the landscape, as concept and motif, often recurs. But I hadn't yet made a work about a specific landscape - to which I also want to refer back concretely. Until some two years ago I walked through a Holloway in Hoegaarden and wondered how I could put the experience of this landscape on the map. At the same time I wanted to give something back to the landscape in which I had already spent so much time.
I took the question seriously and also literally: after the walk I walked past the tourist office looking for landscape maps of the area. It struck me that the available maps didn't really focus on the essence of the landscape. The idea of developing an alternative landscape map was born. Throughout four seasons I took pictures of Holloways in the landscape. The project area, in and around the nature reserve Rosdel (Hoegaarden - Belgium), is visually characterized by a strong nature management and a wide field landscape. Here, as elsewhere, the Holloways form a striking, linear landscape element between the fields. To portray the Holloways, I used a 180° fisheye lens. This makes less 'the road' the main character of the photograph, but rather 'nature' that surrounds the road. Thus grew a photo archive of detailed landscape photographs of Holloways classified by location and by season. How you look at something determines what you see. By interweaving the practice of the cartographer and the artist I try to make the landscape visible in a different, aesthetic way. A selection of 73 photographs that I have taken throughout the seasons, together with an analysis of the different map layers, are bundled together in the “Holle Wegen” book. Together they sketch a portrait of the unique phenomenon of the Holloways in the landscape. Or more precisely, they sketch different portraits, which lead to the heart of the landscape. |
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The project is a personal investigation into the possibilities of contemporary cartography in relation to the landscape and my own artistic practices. In this way, the project is part of the preparations, drawing the outlines of a larger scale project in Belgium, around the possibilities of artistic cartography. The non-profit organization Trage Wegen has invited me to collaborate on this project.