Tree and Soil

The Residue of Mankind

Since a few years I have been working together with Robert Knoth and Antoinette de Jong on their latest project, Tree and Soil.

Tree and Soil underlines the intrinsic beauty and value of nature. Robert Knoth and Antoinette de Jong closely followed the radical transformation of the deserted landscapes around Fukushima, Japan, where they felt like archaeologists of the future—trying to understand what happened in a distant past when a mysterious force resulted in the evacuation of towns, villages, and forests, leaving only a residue of human presence.

Book

In the photo book, landscape photography is combined with the collection of the 19th century naturalist and explorer von Philipp Franz Siebold. Siebold's collections illustrate how Japanese culture is deeply rooted in and inspired by nature.

In addition Knoth and de Jong work with images of scanned leaves, fruits, and branches from plants collected by Siebold which are still growing and flourishing in the Leiden Hortus Botanicus.

The book is designed by Kummer & Herrman, and is published with Hartmann Books.

Reviews

De Volkskrant and NRC (both in Dutch) are full of praise of the book! An interview was held with Robert and Antoinette for World Press Livecast #3: The Photo Book (starting at 34 minutes). 

Exhibition

In 2021 the exhibition, which includes a 2-channel video installation, prints and artefacts from the Siebold collection, will be on show at the Kunstmuseum The Hague, Kunst Haus Wien and Museum Kulturspeicher, Würzburg.