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“You cannot preserve something that you don’t know exists.”

THE LINK BETWEEN SCIENCE AND ART

Creating environmental artwork is not as easy as it seems. Preparations start way before the actual expeditions take place. I usually start by asking some of the worlds best botanists, ichthyologists, and entomologists, who have teamed up with me in my ventures, which specimens they have no images of.

I am surrounded by piranhas, they are circling around me like vultures over a carcass. I’m in the middle of nowhere. I stick my head out of the water and see a flat plain, a vastness with nothing in it except clouds and Trachypogon grass. The savanna extends as far as your eyes can see. If something happens to me here, it will take a long time until somebody finds me. I am a river explorer, and this is my “studio.” I do not refer to what I do as work, because it is my passion.

I have been in this savanna clear water natural drainage canal for six days now. I have inspected the spot thoroughly and collected voucher specimens of freshwater aquatic plants and fish for scientific research. The water parameters, and field notes are all taken. Now, it is time for the artistic part of my passion, which is fusing nature with science and art. I am a rare breed, I carry the scientific part in my brain and art in the heart. I sort of divide things in two ways. The giving part of me that does a lot of “environmental-scientific” things in benefit of humanity and our planet, and then a more egoistic part of me in which I take the time to do what fulfills me as a person, art. I love water, and I include it in most if not all of my projects. Any of my images that do not feature water, were for sure taken next to a body of water or during the search for water.