The real story

I am a visual artist from Belgium. I was born in 1980 and went to art school for graphic design. In my twenties, I was on fire as an activist and organizer. But then I burned out.

I was 29 when I went on my first 6-month solo adventure. The idea was to not have a plan for once.

As I was packing my bags to leave for this trip, the energy and excitement I felt was so empowering that I knew in that moment that this was only the start of something. Right there and then, I left my old life, and there was already no way back.

They say be careful what you wish for. And girl was my call for adventure heard by the heavens.

(I sometimes wonder now if it was the other way around: there was a call and the urge to follow it was simply irresistible. Joseph Campbell anyone?)

Ten years later I am a weathered adventurer with no intention to stop. My adventure resume is filled to the brim.

To be completely honest: my life is my main art.

I am endlessly fascinated by places and how they appeal to my spirit and senses in different ways. Their light, colors and smells, their flavors of silence (California redwood forests!), their experiences of time (Baja time!) and space (West Texas skies!).

Ironically, I am also a homebody and a bit of a control freak. I keep endless journals and notebooks and time trackers and spreadsheets.

But as much as I like order and predictability in some realms of my life, I come alive in the unpredictability of unplanned travel. Just me, my car, and the beckoning world.

In that state, synchronicity is off the charts. In that state, there are zero degrees of separation between me and the mystery. In that state, I am as vast as the landscapes I find myself in.

Only one thing was missing in these solo experiences: you.

My art came about from a desire to want to share my experience and to somehow capture the beauty and multi-layeredness of the nature places I find myself in.

To my delight, I found on an old, non-toxic photographic process, the cyanotype process, that I could use to ‘record’ those moments where space and time as well as sights-smells-sounds converge.

I hope that viewing my art transports you to places real or imagined and that it inspires a sense of adventure and awe in you.

There is a great quote from John Burroughs:

“The lesson that life constantly enforces is 'Look underfoot.' You are always nearer to the true sources of your power than you think. The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are. Don't despise your own place and hour. Every place is the center of the world.”

That is what I aim to do for you through my art.