Reflections 2022
Energy and Matter 2022
Matter and Energy 2022
From the Roots we Grow 2022 - Cyanotype, 100 x 140 cmMineral Evulotion (2022)
‘Mineral Evolution’ is a series that explores different forms of intertwinement between life on earth, inspired by the theory that the richness of minerals on our planet can only have evolved due to the interaction with biological activity. In order to move towards a future where we see the natural world as equally important as ourselves, and where we understand we are just as much part of nature as other animate and inanimate beings, we need to be able to imagine what life within something (seemingly) static would look like. How does a rock come to life? How do I relate to a stone? What are minerals to us, and what are we to minerals?
The theory Mineral Evolution has been first introduced in a paper by Robert Hazen and his co-authors in 20081. With an emphasis on the word evolution, it poses a similarity to the evolution of life, which until then has been considered a controversial approach to Mineralogy. The theory hypothesizes that Earth’s minerals have formed sequentially and have interacted with life forms for billions of years, inevitably having been affected by biological activity and therefore entangled with the evolution of life.
While I don’t want to get into the theory too deeply (and I don’t want to imply that I have enough knowledge of it to do so), I do want to consider its meaning to us as humans in our current day lives. If we realize even the most static form of nature (that is considered to have evolved long before we came to this planet) has a connection to biological life on earth, then what does that mean to us? How can we create a storyline, where we not only coexist with, but also relate to these substances? How do we envision this interaction?
It reminds me of the publication that accompanied the show ‘Mining Memory’ by Navid Nuur. Although I’ve never actually seen the show, I accidentally found a copy of the publication during a residency at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (when I say accidentally, I mean it literally fell out of a magazine where I’m not sure it belonged to, making the find even more special). Nuur takes you through an interview with a rock, which reads more like a conversation, or in a way a monologue where the artist envisions what the rock would say to him. A large part of the conversation is based around art itself, but the main thing that stayed with me was the anthropomorphic attributes of the rock. The rock was speaking to Nuur like a person, fully aware of its own being and presence in the world, talking about its origin and all that has passed through time. I resonated with the little publication immediately. It didn’t make any sense, and yet it made so much sense at the same time. Years later I still think about this publication sometimes, because why not think of a rock as an equal? And what can this fictional approach to a topic teach us what most sciences cannot?
With the work in this series, I want to create another imaginative storyline through images. One that invites you to consider ways of looking at nature as an equal. Structures that resemble bones and roots, almost life-sized depictions of the evolution of a rock, soft textures inviting you to experience them through touch and vibrant explosions of matter that make something static come to life.
Open your senses to what’s in front of you, and let your imagination lead the way.
‘Mineral Evoltion’ is on show at Contour Gallery in Rotterdam from the 29th of October 2022 till the 26th of November 2022.
1 Hazen, Robert & Papineau, Dominic & Bleeker, Wouter & Downs, Robert & Ferry, John & Coy, Timothy & Sverjrjensky, Dimitri & Yang, Hexiong. (2008). Mineral evolution. American Mineralogist. 93. 1693–1720.
‘Mineral Evolution’ is a series that explores different forms of intertwinement between life on earth, inspired by the theory that the richness of minerals on our planet can only have evolved due to the interaction with biological activity. In order to move towards a future where we see the natural world as equally important as ourselves, and where we understand we are just as much part of nature as other animate and inanimate beings, we need to be able to imagine what life within something (seemingly) static would look like. How does a rock come to life? How do I relate to a stone? What are minerals to us, and what are we to minerals?
The theory Mineral Evolution has been first introduced in a paper by Robert Hazen and his co-authors in 20081. With an emphasis on the word evolution, it poses a similarity to the evolution of life, which until then has been considered a controversial approach to Mineralogy. The theory hypothesizes that Earth’s minerals have formed sequentially and have interacted with life forms for billions of years, inevitably having been affected by biological activity and therefore entangled with the evolution of life.
While I don’t want to get into the theory too deeply (and I don’t want to imply that I have enough knowledge of it to do so), I do want to consider its meaning to us as humans in our current day lives. If we realize even the most static form of nature (that is considered to have evolved long before we came to this planet) has a connection to biological life on earth, then what does that mean to us? How can we create a storyline, where we not only coexist with, but also relate to these substances? How do we envision this interaction?
It reminds me of the publication that accompanied the show ‘Mining Memory’ by Navid Nuur. Although I’ve never actually seen the show, I accidentally found a copy of the publication during a residency at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (when I say accidentally, I mean it literally fell out of a magazine where I’m not sure it belonged to, making the find even more special). Nuur takes you through an interview with a rock, which reads more like a conversation, or in a way a monologue where the artist envisions what the rock would say to him. A large part of the conversation is based around art itself, but the main thing that stayed with me was the anthropomorphic attributes of the rock. The rock was speaking to Nuur like a person, fully aware of its own being and presence in the world, talking about its origin and all that has passed through time. I resonated with the little publication immediately. It didn’t make any sense, and yet it made so much sense at the same time. Years later I still think about this publication sometimes, because why not think of a rock as an equal? And what can this fictional approach to a topic teach us what most sciences cannot?
With the work in this series, I want to create another imaginative storyline through images. One that invites you to consider ways of looking at nature as an equal. Structures that resemble bones and roots, almost life-sized depictions of the evolution of a rock, soft textures inviting you to experience them through touch and vibrant explosions of matter that make something static come to life.
Open your senses to what’s in front of you, and let your imagination lead the way.
‘Mineral Evoltion’ is on show at Contour Gallery in Rotterdam from the 29th of October 2022 till the 26th of November 2022.
1 Hazen, Robert & Papineau, Dominic & Bleeker, Wouter & Downs, Robert & Ferry, John & Coy, Timothy & Sverjrjensky, Dimitri & Yang, Hexiong. (2008). Mineral evolution. American Mineralogist. 93. 1693–1720.
Sentience I & II 2022 - Knitted fabric, 200 x 140 cm
Transformation 2022
Internal Being 2022
Through the Cracks 2022
Hidden Life 2022
Weathering 2022