Natuur

Nature is a keeper of stories, a living presence, a mirror of emotions. Unlike us, it embraces the flow of time. As our natural environment faces threats from man-made global warming, we are encouraged to view it with fresh awareness and sensitivity, to find a new connection between humanity and the world we inhabit. From the wide Australian desert, the ecosystem depicts ancestral stories, known as Tjukurrpa (Dreaming), where land, memory, and time intertwine. Indigenous artists from the Western Desert and Arnhem Land regions of Australia perceive nature not as something to look at, but something to listen to. Each mark holds a path, a journey, a map of belonging. Despite colonial violence and suppression, Aboriginal artists managed to preserve their traditions, creating artworks that stand as testaments to both creativity and cultural resilience. The Dutch artworks on display here explore nature as collectors, poets and scientists. These works do more than merely depicting the natural world: they fragment it, isolate it, catalogue it, frame it, reveal its quiet wonder. Together, they invite us to look closer at what already exists. To see the extraordinary in the ordinary. To understand that nature is not separate from us, but part of us, always speaking, if we choose to listen.