And the Devastation Continues
oil on canvas
150 × 150 cm
2019
The painting And the Devastation Continues from 2019 is a deeply personal and conflicting piece for me. It captures a detail of a sea-going fishing vessel of the Dutch Royal Fleet, which I saw up close for the first time on a pier in The Hague. It was an experience I would describe as "beautiful horror."
The ship was architecturally magnificent, massive, majestic, and smelled of fish. Visually, it fascinated me. At the same time, I couldn't tear my thoughts away from the giant nets on its deck. I realize that humanity needs to eat, but the thought of how these machines systematically plunder and devastate the marine world still gives me goosebumps today. I painted this realistic, industrial detail of the ship right around the time I began exploring the world of origami in my work—as if this cold realism of the machine had to make way for the search for a new, more fragile form of expression.
