ARTIST BOOKS
Photographically illustrated stories for children
THE BUSH MONSTER
2023
‘The Bush Monster’ is an interactive photographically illustrated rhyming story in English for children inspired by both my son and nature in my garden, located in the Dutch woodland region ‘The Veluwe’. The project tells an unusual story of a bush monster who is used to hunting creatures that are different than others and chooses a wooden reindeer as his next target.
Having a child who is being raised in multiple languages by two parents who have different nationalities, for me as a mother means paying extra attention to how well the child fits into a local children’s social circle. Bullying happens across all ages, to children and adults alike. People who are bullied often feel miserable, scared, hurt and ashamed. Quite often the person being bullied suffers in silence and feels lonely. This peculiar tale, which is dedicated to my son, can serve as a starting point for a more in-depth discussion between an adult and a child, raising questions around such topics as bullying, being different, envy, empathy and forgiveness.
‘The Bush Monster’ is a conceptual continuation of the rhyming story ‘What happens to leaves when they fall off trees?’ and illustrates a story with nature photography told in an anthropomorphistic manner and with an emphasis on pareidolia, highlighting arbitrary connections in nature that lead to new meanings by combining, cutting, adjusting, rearranging, decolourising, flipping, inverting, layering and mirroring digital photographic images to achieve unusual combinations which the viewer can decipher together with the complementing textual information. The project also includes digital pinhole and reversed lens images. It all includes work from other mediums such as handmade paper, organic matter and a sound track, allowing the playfulness and experimentation to further enrich the project, and providing an opportunity for children to interact with the story by actively involving visual sense in combination with textual information and auditory and tactile senses, offering a more complex engagement.
WHAT HAPPENS TO LEAVES
WHEN THEY FALL OFF TREES?
2022-2023
'What happens to leaves when they fall off trees?' is a photographically illustrated rhyming story for children inspired by my deceased daughter and Dutch nature. The project tells the unusual story of an oak tree leaf that seeks an answer to the question ‘What happens to leaves when they fall off trees?’.
​
When the coldest and dreariest days of the year come, it is time for leaves to end their active life cycle and make space for the next season's leaves. Similarly, all living organisms, including humans, have a certain life cycle to follow and it is only natural for one to wonder what happens after one dies. Explaining the topic of death to children can be a particularly difficult task that should be done in a gentle manner so that children see death as a part of one's life and are encouraged to think about their deceased family members with love and respect. This unusual tale serves as a starting point for a deeper discussion between an adult and a child around the topic of life after death.
​
​This project illustrates a story with bird and nature photography told in an anthropomorphistic manner, highlighting arbitrary connections in nature that lead to new meanings by combining, layering, cutting, adjusting, rearranging, decolourising, flipping and mirroring digital photographic images to achieve unusual combinations which the viewer can decipher together with the complementing textual information. The project also includes a digital pinhole image, reversed lens image, toned cyanotype, as well as it includes work from other mediums like handmade paper, organic matter and a sound track, allowing the playfulness and experimentation to further enrich the project, and providing an opportunity for children to interact with the story by actively involving visual sense in combination with textual information and auditory and tactile senses, offering a more complex engagement.
