From the series Fieldwork
Milah van Zuilen gathers and rearranges organic material, often cut into squares and neatly arranged as grid structures. The works are abstract, with a poetic quality. They resemble the Dutch landscape from a bird’s-eye view — agricultural land methodically arranged in a succession of rectangles. Only when you look closer at Van Zuilen’s work, it reveals the nerves and lines of the plant material. Metaphorically, it is the natural landscape trapped in the human square structures.
The shape of the square is central in Fieldwork and in Milah’s work overall. People often use rectangular designs to impose order onto the landscape and classify or oversee nature. Grids are used in taxonomy for plant classification; in cartography for terrain interpretation; and in agriculture for cultivation. To Van Zuilen, the square characterizes the human perspective and presence in the landscape. Her projects refer to the human grid structures and shapes while questioning the sense of ownership that accompanies them. Do humans have superiority over the landscape, and to what extent can nature be taken under control? Van Zuilen’s work explores these questions through her visual research.