Assignments
Jan Brandes
Ineke and Peter lived in Uganda for 4 years. Before that, they worked for quite some time with people in Africa, Asia and South America.
Ineke's focus is on developing 'plant-based' food chains. In Uganda and the Netherlands she works as co-founder and owner of @FIBERFOODS on the production and introduction of, among other things, the dried jackfruit as a substitute for meat.
Due to their experiences 'overseas' and their passion for food chains, they chose the tableau by Jan Brandes (1743 - 1808). In 1778, Brandes landed on Java - which is now Indonesia - as a preacher for the VOC. After a year he lost his wife and buried his grief in drawing the scenes and plants he saw every day. His detailed drawings are unique because there is no other visual record of 18th century colonial life and the rich biodiversity in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and South Africa where he lived for a number of years with his son.
During Brandes' time, food chains were set up from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and South Africa to the Netherlands. This happened under great pressure, without regard for the environment and using enslaved people. Ineke works on sustainable food chains, in which minimizing the impact on the environment plays a major role and in which all people in the chain earn sufficiently and work under good working conditions.
Brandes did not feel at home with the VOC mentality, but his legacy is well placed on Ineke and Peter's wall.
Isatis tinctoria
In the Middle Ages, textiles were dyed with plants. In Europe, woad (Isatis tinctoria) was mainly used for blue, madder (Rubia tinctorum) for red and kite (Reseda luteola) for yellow.
The Duchy of Gulick was one of the most important production areas in the Netherlands for the blue dye - or indigo - that we now know so well from blue jeans. At the time, this former duchy bordered Roermond in Gelderland, which is the home of Marita and Chris from Ecological Textiles. When they discovered this past of their area, they were inspired to reintroduce the woad.
They now grow a small amount of woad and a number of ecological fabrics are dyed with woad. This has restored an age-old tradition that is more sustainable than dyeing with a synthetic dye.
Marita asked me to make a tableau of the woad for her husband Chris. They both really love the plant that has such a beautiful dye in it. For this I delved into the various herbaria from Naturalis. The tableau consists of woad that was picked years ago in various places in France, Corsica, Sweden and Germany. The oldest woad was picked in 1859, 164 years ago.
Middle Ages
The Dutch couple Froukje and Martijn Frederiks are both fans of the Middle Ages and are actively involved in the Hortus Botanics of Utrecht. They were looking for a design with medieval plants
The drawings that people in medieval times made of plants were part of manuscripts. These manuscripts are carefully preserved in the Bodleian Library. This leading research library started in 1435 and is associated with the University of Oxford. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world.
These botanical drawings are dated around 1500.
The Fernery
Textile designer Carol Brown (Denmark) loves prints of plants and flowers. She was looking for an artwork in the hallway and asked if I could make a tableau of her most loved plants: ferns.
Immediately I thought of the 'Fern Fever' which prevailed in England from 1861 till 1900. Ferns were extremely popular and this was reflected in textiles, pottery and so-called 'Ferneries', a terrarium containing different types of ferns that were placed in the home. A true showpiece.
This tableau consists of cut-outs of ferns from the "Nature Printed Ferns" collection (1855-57) by Thomas Moore (1821-1887) and Henry Bradbury (1831-1860). A popular printbook during the 'Fern Fever'.
They were the first to use the 'Nature Print' technique developed by Alois Auer in 1853 . The plant itself is printed on paper by means of steam, among other things. An etching was made of this print, making it possible to publish a book.
En Tibe Herbarium
Here for you a smiling garden with everlasting flowers
In the message I received from Paul Bentheim (Germany) was written: "I share the fascination for herbaria but can you make it more hip?"
For this interesting challenge I looked into the archive of Naturalis and discovered the oldest known herbarium called the 'En Tibi herbarium' short for 'En tibi perpetuis ridentem floribus hortum' which means: Here for you a smiling garden of everlasting flowers.
This valuable and costly 16th-century herbarium contains 473 dried plant specimens and is one of the largest and oldest known of its kind. The book is currently held as a masterpiece in the treasure room of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands.
To make the everlasting flowers “smile” in the 21ste century I gave the almost 500 years old dried specimens a black background and bright collours. The edited images are together best reflected in the shape of a diamond.