GREEN | BACK TO PARADISE - 2020-ongoing | As an urbanite, I've always been intrigued by the magic of trees and forests without the urge to live in a rural area. For me it's mesmerizing how trees grow, how forests give freshness and relaxation and how the trees' chemical processes work supplying our oxygen and store carbon dioxide.
My work focuses on how humans create space and their environment. In 2016 I started my visual research on green in cities with the project ‘Urban Green’, kicking off in Hong Kong. Green and nature in cities contribute to high quality of urban life.
While doing further research I found myself puzzled: humans are not destroying nature, they already have destroyed it. Agriculture expansion has been the main driver of deforestation and forest fragmentation. According to the recent United Nations* report ‘SOFO 2020 - The State of the World's Forests 2020’ as a consequence of destruction, we are extinguishing the biodiversity which the planet needs to recover.
One of the many targets is to stop this process and reverse it, by restoring land with the genetically native resources. In the Netherlands, only 3% of the trees is native and 97% mainly 'exotics'. These are trees and shrubs that have been intentionally or unintentionally imported by humans from other parts of Europe or the world. These non-native species are more susceptible to disease and damage and disrupt ecosystems.
‘Green | Back to Paradise’ centers my visualization on native trees and forests, starting in the Netherlands. As soon as possible my search area shall globally expand.
The photographs for this project will be made with a large format analogue camera. I feel a connection between me gazing at trees, the unhurried way of taking large format photographs and the slow pace of trees and forests.
I’ve started ‘Green | Back to Paradise’ with small format camera photographs of Dutch forests unaware of what I know now.
*UN | United Nation Environment Program & FAO | Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations