Long Story

We are all threads of a long rope that goes back countless generations and through which everyone is connected. Which threads connect the different generations? How do we experience this connection? What liberates us and what oppresses us? What gets passed on?

The chair refers to the effect of time, the past that continues into the present. Long Story is about my grandmother, a strong woman who got Hansen’s disease at a young age. She was banished to a leprosy colony and quarantined for life. This colony was a former sugar plantation, a similar place to where her ancestors worked and lived as enslaved in Suriname.

Decorative display featuring hanging red, blue, and beige yarn and fabric strands arranged around an old colonial chair.

Close-up of red yarn with a background of a small painting of a watch.

Tori Telling

In many cultures there is a lot of sharing during dinner! What stories do we tell each other and what stories do we tell ourselves… what do we share with others, are they memories, ideas about the future…

What stories do we not tell because they are too painful because they expose something that would rather remain hidden?

Installations by art duo Oudenaller & Traxel

Since 2011 I started working with visual artist Peggy van den Oudenaller. As an art duo (Oudenaller & Traxel) we make sight specific installations. Our goal is to explore the connection between humanity and nature, encouraging you to reflect on what you see and the feelings it evokes. We work with diverse materials and disciplines, always ensuring that everything serves the essence of the concept.

A green and beige yarn, fuzzy fabric strands lies on a textured beige blanket with a green surface background.

Colorful woven yarn and fabric circles, rectangles, and designs on a green background.

Multiple colorful, textured mats arranged on the floor, each with various fabric and craft materials, in a spacious, well-lit room with plain walls and windows.

Dyed-in-the-wool

For this installation, we use an age-old craft: knitting and crochet. We "paint" with homemade knitting and crocheted work on different "canvases ".

The lying "canvases" together with succulents form a challenging, visual and tactile installation that can be interpreted as a landscape.

There are as many landscapes as you can think of, because a landscape only exists when it is seen and as soon as it is seen it fits in with a reflex at the eye of the viewer.

The craft material shows the vulnerability and is at the same time a metaphor for transience or temporality.

A close-up of a small plant with green leaves, dried brown stems, and some white and blue yarn wrapped around it.

White Garden

White Garden was exhibited in the climate greenhouse of the Weizigt sustainability center in Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

The installation originated from the questions: What is natural, what is artificial? What is nature, what is culture? How far does the influence of man go? What is real?

The installation fills the front part of Weizigt's greenhouse with hanging white plastic flowers on a white flowering bed of flowers. The "pristine white image" competes with the surrounding "lush greenery". "White Garden" was created with plastic waste material from another installation from 2013. Recycle art!

Hanging white decorations resembling noodles or shells, with white flowers planted in the ground at the base, in an enclosed outdoor area.

A greenhouse with glass walls and a curved roof surrounded by a garden with various plants and flowers. A brick pathway leads to the greenhouse entrance.

Hanging plastic bottles above white flowering plants in a greenhouse.

Message in a bottle (3 in 1)

The exhibition "message in a bottle" consists of three installations (Transformation, Message in a bottle and Basilica Minor) in which the relationship between man, nature and visual art is central. Plastic bottles and other discarded material form the basis of the installations.

In a room stands a large “peepbox” in which the video “Natura Morta” is shown. The floor is covered with sand. The video lasts about three minutes, mounted in a loop (continuously repeated). It is a still life (natura morta) of different shaped plastic bottles (garbage) inspired by the paintings of Giorgio Morandi.

Some bottles are filled with water, some flows over. Eventually the image dissolves in the sea. The “box” is painted blue on the outside and small white plastic bottles are randomly attached to the blue wall. Visitors could write a message on a piece of paper and leave it behind in the small white bottles.

A child observing an art installation of white plastic bottles mounted on a blue wall.

Various bottles and containers illuminated with colorful neon lights, creating a vibrant display.

A young boy in a black jacket and sneakers is looking at the art installation of plastic flowers in a pond behind him a pink textured wall with an abstract design.

Inside an industrial warehouse with dim lighting, several people are gathered near a large, illuminated curtain or fabric structure. The setting is an exhibition, with some machinery and equipment visible in the background.

Decorated display with a large hanging chandelier made of colorful, transparent materials, surrounded by tall column-like structures made of yellow and red plastic bottles, with plastic curtains and a patterned box in front, set up indoors.

Basilica Minor

Art project “message in a bottle”

Children from primary school Kompas from Krimpen a/d IJssel are involved in the collection of litter from the nature reserve De Kleine Zaag, Krimpen aan de Lek. The children, together with the visual artists, recreate the found waste from the nature reserve into small still lifes. These pieces of work of the primary school students are arranged around the “basilica” (as a cemetery often surrounds a church) and are also part of the exhibition. This changes the value of the waste found, the loose pieces of waste form a whole. The viewer observes something new.

Group of children in colorful jackets crowded together, sorting through and collecting trash and recyclables on the floor, in what appears to be an indoor facility or warehouse.

Children working on boat repairs in a boatyard. They are sitting on a rug among tools and cups, with some adults working nearby and stairs leading up to the boat.

Children participating in an educational activity or workshop, some kneeling and some standing, in a room with wooden structures and various objects around them.

Geen wolkje aan de lucht (no cloud in the sky)

The installation “Geen wolkje aan de lucht” (“No cloud in the sky “ meaning no problem)
shows a Dutch river landscape look of today.
A landscape in which industry and nature, work and recreation coexist and in which man plays a big role. Inspiration for this installation is the painting “Het pontveer” by Esaias van de Velde from 1622.

Ceiling installation of clusters of plastic bottles suspended in the air, with a scenic landscape projected on the wall behind.

Art installation made of plastic bottles and packaging materials placed under a light, hanging from the ceiling.

Art installation made of crumpled plastic bottles illuminated with colorful lights hanging from the ceiling.

Minestrone

The installation “minestrone” is a playful commentary on the consumption trend focused on the food culture and how the media, and in particular advertising, manage to manipulate this compulsion. All senses are stimulated but does that deliver a heavenly delight?

This installation consists of a video (± 6 min.) Of different images from preparing food to eating food, in which the temptation and self-indulgence are highlighted.

This video is supported by voice and sound in collaboration with Tiziana Chessa. Hanging from the ceiling are string bags (± 30 pieces). These bags hang at different heights throughout the entire space. Each bag is filled with one “errand” that can also be seen in the video. In this way the pure products are displayed.

There is a beautifully set dining table with 6 chairs placed on a green artificial lawn, but it does not invite you to take place.

Minestrone was on show at the Paradijs 2018 exhibition of Haagse Kunstkring in The Hague and during the Food exhibition at Galerie De Pieter in Leiden.

Close-up of a person with an open mouth and finger near their lips, eating.

A dining room with a table set for a meal, surrounded by chairs, with three white candles as a centerpiece, and hanging netted bags with brown items from the ceiling. In the background, a projection of a nature scene is displayed on the wall.

Three oranges with a netted design, hanging from the ceiling