Earthskin (synopsis)

Everyday we are confronted by more and more artificiality in our surroundings. Our natural spaces are slowly transforming into a mise en scène that reflects our human activities. Simultaneously, it can also be seen as a device that we employ as we desire. ‘Earthskin’ is a botanical artwork, a video sculpture consisting of flora and artifacts extracted from our everyday lives. Not only do these elements exist in the grand scheme of things, but they also form their own microcosms. The viewer is brought into an unfamiliar environment through micrography and collaging. Organic and synthetic bodies circulate seamlessly, creating an unknown habitat and breathing space. What we were first unable to perceive, is now immortalized in a new digital creation.

We are constantly leaving traces of our existence behind in our surroundings. They normally do not capture our attention, either because of their everydayness or perceived ugliness. The hidden beauty and purity of the human traces are what I want to immortalize so that they can be experienced differently and infinitely. Consequently, the subjects are no longer taken for granted. It is thus reminiscent of archeology, but with a different purpose and an unconventional mean.

I see my work as a sculpture of our legacy. The areas I create are characterized by past human presence, current abandonedness and future uncertainty. The human traces as still life are brought to a new breathing environment through multidisciplinarity and atypical narrative techniques. The manipulated mise en scène forms a post-apocalyptic, semi-surreal microcosm that includes physical and non-physical signs of our mortality.