Dune Fantasia
About Dune Fantasia
The title comes from a realisation I had while visiting a dune in Taiwan. During my residency in Hualien, I looked up a place called Lingding Dunes. Upon reaching the estuary of the Hualien River, where the dunes were supposed to be, I saw gravel instead of piles of sand. Being unfamiliar with Hualien, I almost thought I had found the wrong place, so I checked the information again and again. Only later did I realise that this was, in fact, the dune landscape I had been looking for, but vast quantities of its sand had eroded away.
The experience made me realise how accustomed I had become to the dunes of the Netherlands. Without noticing it, I had started to imagine that dunes elsewhere should look like Dutch dunes. The Dutch dunes can appear almost like a perfect model: carefully measured, managed and continually adjusted. I am fascinated by the measurements, actions and projects surrounding them, and at the same time I question what happens when one particular landscape becomes a model for how a landscape is supposed to look.
Dune Fantasia
2026
50x120 cm
Oil on linen
Exhibition view at Unfair 2026
Background
Since the end of 2023, I have also been exploring the idea of viewing humanity as a migratory species. I began with a sci-fi narrative set partly within the coastal dunes of the Netherlands, imagining a future in which climate change forces humanity to choose between staying on Earth and migrating elsewhere.
What began as A Sci-Fi Story about Migration has gradually developed into several interconnected speculative stories. They do not necessarily take the form of writing, but unfold through research, questioning, painting, participatory work and writing. Woven together with field experiences, memories and imagination, these stories have developed into Dune Fantasia: a speculative world through which I think about migration, environmental transformation, culture, memory and belonging.
Island Specimens
2026
20x25 cm
Oil on linen
Welcome to Fluid Home-Islands,
2026
20x25
Oil on linen
Dune Fantasia Game Box
2026
30x24 cm
Oil on linen