Waterland
(2021)

photographs, photomontage, news paper clipping, archive material

In the 15th century, a flood breached the Markermeer dykes in the Netherlands and washed an unknown body ashore. The creature appeared like a woman but couldn’t speak nor behave like a human being. Experts declared: It must be a mermaid.

Waterland – On How to Become a Body of Water is a climate fiction narrative about rising sea levels told from the perspective of a mermaid. In this work, I address our alienated relationship with the ocean, the entanglement of gender and ecology, and the urgency of imagining collective futures in the face of the climate crisis. The work consists of photographs, analogue double exposures, newspaper clippings, and photo montages, mostly presented as an installation. The project originated from a collaboration with the Foundation for Environmental and Spatial Planning Advice (STAB), based in the Netherlands. During this project, they were working on the restoration of the Markermeer dykes, built in response to rising sea levels. The restoration generated conflict as many in Dutch society did not consider it necessary, signalling the difficulties of effectively communicating the urgency of climate change. 

My project Waterland is inspired by the Dutch folklore of the Zeemeermin from Edam, an imprisoned mermaid who appeared after a flood behind the Markermeer dikes in the 15th century. Her story of entrapment, public exhibition, and subsequent enslavement is exemplary of the modern Western approach to the environment, which prioritises profit and extraction over curiosity and respect - a worldview that objectifies nature. Some of the images represent the mermaid’s gaze, decentering the human perspective on the issue. Others show the mermaid navigating the human-made world using performance through staging. Playing with authority newspaper clipping conjure, I also blend historical legends with contemporary issues faced by Dutch society and present a fictional future pointing to the possibility of coexistence between humans and ocean life.

Astrida Neimanis' Essay On How to Become A Body of Water was a big inspiration for this work, and I have dedicated the subtitle of my work to it.

Installation shots: Climate Utopias Festival, Lahti, Finland 2021.

Read more about Waterland at Zero Nine Magazine.