Places to go

What kind of landscapes are going to be used to be depicted? The places chosen for the photos must somehow appeal to my imagination and they have to be related to the disappearing landscape, climatic changes or nature's interruption by human hand, usually born from an economic need. Part of this research project will focus on finding those places and the background.

A. New land in the sea; 2nd Maasvlakte

The Netherlands is known as a country that gets bigger by making new land in the sea. But is it a smart move considering the predictions? Half of the land is built below sea level and since the predictions are that it will rise, it seems a strange action to make more land even though the new area is 5 meters above sea level. Part of this new land has been laid out in a nature reserve that has been preserved as well as possible, but the change of 2000 hectares of seabed has an impact on plants and animals anyway.

As compensation for the disappearance of the seabed, an area of ​​25,000 hectares of seabed is designated as protected and part of the fishing is no longer permitted there. A new dune area is also being constructed that will be approximately 35 hectares.

The intention is that the new business premises only house sustainably operating companies. This also applies to the transport of goods and emissions of air pollutants, light and noise in order to meet the new stricter requirements of European regulations.

Not long ago they expanded the port in Rotterdam by making a piece of land in the sea. In 2012, the 11-kilometer new seawall was closed. As a result, the Netherlands grew by 2,000 hectares and the coastline was locally 3.5 kilometres further in the sea. To the north along the fairway where the ships sail to the harbour, a 3.5 kilometre hard seawall has been built with a block dam, (see cover page) along with a dune and the rest is a 7.5 meter sandy beach with a 14 meter high dune. The entire project will be completed if there is sufficient demand; 300 hectares have yet to be prepared, the information structure has been improved and the basins are not deep enough everywhere. (Planned for 2015-2030)

It is a fascinating, empty area with kilometres, almost empty beach with here and there some days people, (kide)surfers, fisherman and cyclists. Nobody lives there. "Futureland is the name of the visitor information centre in the area. According the map drawn by the scientist this "future-land" will not survive that long.

B. Peat fires in the "Grote Peel"

The Grote Peel is the smallest national park in the Netherlands. It is known for the peat that was extracted there in swamp landscape. This landscape has drastically changed as a result of that activity. Everyone who comes from there knows the unpredictability of fires when they break out. Because of the peat, the fire can grow underground, be invisible and appear in a totally unexpected place. This makes it a dangerous undertaking to take pictures and difficult for fire-fighters to control. The beauty of those fires is that the resilience and resilience are clearly visible. Young trees are usually visible again within a month after the fire has been extinguished. Because of the smoke and fires, there are various legends about witches, wandering knights and a werewolf in the area. Stories I have known from a young age since I grow up in the area.

In an article from 1993 it appears that the marsh area has 10,000 hectares out of the 30,000 before. It also the part of the Netherlands with fault lines and therefore the chance of earthquakes.

Moras Area

A century and a half ago there was a huge swamp area in Brabant. In the Geography Dictionary (1850) it is described as follows: "PEEL (DE), soaked and swampy region lands (...) which means that in most places people hardly go, much less can drive (...). This swamp, which in some places is four cubits deep, starts at the village of Zeeland in the Land-van-Ravestein, and runs, in the form of a semicircle, along the borders of the Meijerij from 's Hertogenbosch to the village of Budel, while it also extends to Hamont in Limburg, so that it is almost twelve hours long ". This area has been suffering from climate change for some time. Due to the drought, the groundwater has fallen considerably, making the soil so dry that it is more difficult to absorb water when it rains. Another problem is the acidification of the environment, certainly in the area where many pigs and chickens are kept, the area looks faster on the Savannah than on a primeval forest. This increased the risk of peat fires

In 1991, more than 200 hectares were destroyed by fire. A charred and blackened landscape was left behind. Anyone who sees such a burned-out area thinks that nothing can grow anymore. However, nature's recovering capacity appears to be high. I took images then as I hope to do this year.

MONSTERS OF THE PEEL

The photographer Martin Coppens photographed a lot in the peel with mostly the peel man and the landscape as subject. This resulted in more than 60 books. His first photo album was "Rond de Peel" from 1937. Other books specifically about the Peel were "The Heart of the Peel" (1978) and "Around the Peel" (1979)

"Monsters van de Peel" from 1958 is a completely different photo album about the Peel. it contains 20 photos reminiscent of monsters, aliens, warriors, crocodiles and dragons. Coppens writes a short accompanying text with: “It was a strange day when my camera discovered this horde of creeping, fighting and defeated monsters. The legends of the past had taken shape. ”Indeed, the photographs show that in earlier dark times the Peel encouraged residents to create frightening stories about white women or murderers wandering around at night, werewolves and wandering lights.

I did not know Martin Coppens but his daughter was a high-school friend of my mothers. That way I was familiar to his work on a very young age. His son, Jan Coppens, was one of my photography professors at the art academy. After his dead the articles about him were referring him a the "godfather" of Dutch photo history. He published books and magazines. He used various synonyms for his publications the best known was Claude Magelhaes.

C. Het Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe (The Drowned Land of Saeftinghe)

An area that has been regularly affected by flooding since the 12th century and that speaks to the imagination just by the name, a small poem. It is situated in the border region of the Netherlands and Belgium. It forms the largest brackish water marsh in Europe. The tidal difference between high and low water can be 4.8 meters, but at spring tide it can even be 7m. Nowhere in the Netherlands is it so high. For a while there has been a polder, but the depoldering of the area on both the Dutch and Belgian side has now begun. An outer dike landscape where you feel at one with nature but where human influence is also clearly visible. The horizon is interrupted by the towers of the nuclear power plant near the Belgian Doel.

Legend

There is a folk legend about the origin of this area. The villagers of Saeftinghe would have been vain and haughty, which is a major sin. One day a fisherman caught a woman-mermaid and the mermaid-man naturally wanted his wife back. The fisherman refused, whereupon the merman threatened: The land of Saefthinghe will perish, only his towers will stand (also: Namur, Namur will perish, only his tower will remain, to the village of Namur, which also disappeared in the waves). Sometimes you will see white shapes in the mist in the area. That would be the spirits of drowned people who keep wandering around here.

D. Groningen Earthquakes