About Marijke, by Marijke:
“In my drawings and ceramics, you see birds, hares, plant roots, marshes and flowers with faces. The pencil drawings are monochrome, and I give each part equal attention and detail. This blurs the contrasts between the creatures and their environments. I don’t see the drawings as classic landscapes, but as portraits of living worlds. In the Western painting tradition, the landscape is often used as a backdrop or as a symbol for people’s inner worlds. With my drawings, I seek a non-anthropocentric view of the landscape.
In his work, biologist J. Scott Turner asks whether living creatures end at their skin. Shouldn’t we see their immediate environment as an extension of their bodies? Some spiders blow bubbles and dive underwater with these external lungs. Worms keep the soil wet by digging tunnels. During my residency at VHDG, I will be working on a series of sculptures and drawings that explore the idea of a body beyond the skin.”
