To WdKA graduates platform
Willem de Kooning Academy Piet Zwart Institute
Initiative of WdkA
Leonora
Bakker

THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER

I am fascinated by people and the evidence of their lives they leave behind on our planet.We all leave traces. To show the effect our lives have on our surroundings I collect and document those traces, such as garbage and buildings.
I feel like the traces are a first step towards something else.
I am interested in people and their little bubbles, the things that they do that we don’t see. I feel like there are so many jobs I’ve never heard of and ways of living I have never seen. Yet I am afraid to actually ask people to let me into their world. With the traces I feel I scratch the surface of what I ultimately want to do. I want to expand my understanding of human behavior, dive into as many different worlds as possible, and document it so everyone can see all the peculiarities of who we are as humans, and how we leave evidence of our lives everywhere.
I feel like the traces are a first step towards something else.
I am interested in people and their little bubbles, the things that they do that we don’t see. I feel like there are so many jobs I’ve never heard of and ways of living I have never seen. Yet I am afraid to actually ask people to let me into their world. With the traces I feel I scratch the surface of what I ultimately want to do. I want to expand my understanding of human behavior, dive into as many different worlds as possible, and document it so everyone can see all the peculiarities of who we are as humans, and how we leave evidence of our lives everywhere.
While I am mostly focussing on others, I also use photography to create an archive of my own life. I always hoped that all things around me that I enjoyed, all the people that I loved, would be eternal. Nothing is further from the truth. But maybe if I photograph them, visualise the details, I can remember them to the fullest. Forever.
In these busy and hectic times I look for people who have left the city to live a life outside the regular systems and closer to nature.One day I aim to leave the city myself and change my busy life for a more sustainable one but for now, I wish to experience and learn as much as I can from others.
The times we live in now are times of change. With the climate crisis in mind a new system has to be invented. A more nature friendly and sustainable system. I wish to show some of the many options and initiatives already out there.