The work "Bergheider See 3 - PH3" is part of the series "Toxic," which focuses on reflecting on meta perspectives in photography. “Toxic” merges subject and object in an exploration of the toxic human footprint of brown coal mining, which produces huge craters in the landscape. These craters are often filled with water for the sake of tourism. It takes about 20 years for the water to reach a pH-value suitable for life to thrive in. Until then, the water
is simply too acidic. Schuurman took Polaroids of the water’s surface and developed them in this ‘toxic bath’. The
varying pH values of the water interacting with the acids of the Polaroids themselves created a wide range of textures and colours.