Lichen can be found in many shapes and colours and can grow on tree bark, mosses, rocks, bones - about anywhere really. Now that I had become more aware of their different manifestations, I realised I had met them in every place that I have ever been. On every mountain top, in every city park. I can see Lichen now as I write, gazing out the window of my The Hague apartment. I notice the foliose lichen gracing the trunks of old oak trees, while the crustose lichen splatter their bulbs of colour on the sidewalk. I would never go a day without noticing them again.

The overarching presence of Lichen made it clear that I had to find a point of focus. A way in. I decided to deepen my connection with two genera: Sunburst Lichen and Beard Lichen. Both are forms that I had met in the city park and meeting them day after day, on both dry and wet days, helped me to become more and more acquainted.  I would softly run my fingers over the small, extraterrestrial landscapes that the Sunburst Lichen grows and comb through the mosslike hair of the Beard Lichen. 

I have been creating odes for both these genera. During the process of creating these, I wanted to mirror the workings of the Lichen, to feel what is like to be changed by something other than me and to create from that relationship. Just like the dance of the algae and fungi. I did this by  inviting in materials that were new to me, ones that I do not have any sense of control over. This way, I could fully feel what their effect would be, what their presence would make me do.