03 october 2023, Wouter van den Eijkel
The studio of... Daan Zuijderwijk
Lots of people dream of doing it, but photographer Daan Zuijderwijk has actually made that dream a reality. Zuijderwijk and his family have been leading a nomadic existence for six years now. With their off-grid caravan they travel to remote and inhospitable places, such as the Island of Mull in Scotland or the north of Sweden. Zuijderwijk photographs the local nature at night. To him it is about the encounter with nature. To confirm his presence, he manipulates the images on the spot with interventions. “My work is also about becoming aware of our limitations as humans and how we deal with them.” A conversation about his lifestyle, travelling, and the major questions he seeks to answer. De Aarde Ontmoeten (Meeting Earth) by Daan Zuijderwijk can be seen through 22 October at ROOF-A in Rotterdam.
I read that you have been travelling around Europe with your family in a caravan for the past six years. Does that caravan also double as a studio space?
Yes, he does. It is our living and working place. The caravan has great off-grid capabilities and I also have quite a few tools with me to maintain the van and develop all kinds of ideas. Our solar panels and battery system make it possible to work anywhere and to use heavier machines such as a saw table or welding tool. I am very happy when we are in a beautiful place in Sweden and I have installed my sewing machine and can sew a beautiful tent using solar energy. It feels utterly free. In fact, you might say that the world is my studio.
It doesn’t strike me as easy to lead such a nomadic existence. How did you and your wife arrive at the decision to 'disconnect' from society?
The decoupling process was gradual. We had been travelling through the Netherlands on a historic sailing ship for years. We discovered that we could live with the idea that we did not have a permanent place somewhere. Even after 15 years, we were still happy when we set to sail to a new place. It has taught us to deal differently with basic needs such as energy and water. Whether or not something seems easy is highly personal and often has to do with the unknown. We are now familiar with this way of life and it is normal for us not to know exactly where we will be the next day.
Daan Zuijderwijk, Yellow Dots #01, 2017, ROOF-A
What is attractive about a nomadic existence and what is the most difficult part about it?
Lots of things are attractive about a nomadic existence. It is always special to be able to spend a lot of time in the most beautiful places in Europe and have a lot of unique encounters. We travel for several months without a strict schedule, after which we return to the Netherlands and share our stories. We have learned that you cannot plan the most beautiful events. This attitude has already brought us many wonderful encounters. The difficult part about a traveling life is that everything is very dynamic. You need to make lots of choices.
Your way of life is not without obligation and your work focuses on nature in the places you visit. Do you also consider this way of life an integral part of your work?
Yes, this lifestyle is also an integral part of my work. To me everything is connected. Although I make my night images in nature, the encounter between people and nature is central to my work. With the manipulations I make on the spot (not afterwards on the computer), I confirm my human presence. By physically performing the manipulations in the landscape, my work is also about becoming aware of our limitations as humans and how we deal with them. In my opinion, a lot of what happens in society has to do with whether or not boundaries are accepted.
In a practical sense, we have limited ourselves in terms of space and belongings by traveling through Europe in such a small house. On the other hand, we strongly benefit from the advantages that living in a small house offers. Of course, you can travel the world with it, but it also costs much less energy to heat a small space. And when you can take less with you, it is also easier to declutter. Less stuff and less energy also means that less money is needed, which in turn results in more time for all kinds of other things.
Daan Zuijderwijk, Tech Vision #01, 2023, ROOF-A
The exhibition at ROOF-A is called De Aarde Ontmoeten (Meeting Earth). What does the title refer to?
De Aarde Ontmoeten is a title coined by writer Dirk van Weelden. It refers to my attempts to connect with the earth and nature. As Dirk so beautifully puts it, the meeting is an interaction. My nocturnal interventions in the landscape are metaphors for that interaction.
One of the research questions I asked myself when we started traveling was: as humanity, how did we end up in the current climate and biodiversity crisis? Of course, there is also the follow-up question: how do we get out of it?
You might argue that we are in conflict with our living environment. And to resolve a conflict, it is good to get to know each other better and, above all, to engage in self-reflection. We try to do that with our trip. Our nomadic life gives us the opportunity to view our society and culture from a different perspective. It also gives us a lot of time to explore and experience nature. I also consider our journey a journey of discovery in which we slowly move from the era in which people are central to an era in which we can live in closer harmony with our environment.
Daan Zuijderwijk, 30 Minutes walk at Bardenas Reales, 2022, ROOF-A
What do you hope visitors to Meeting the Earth will see in your work?
What I hope people will see is how wonderful our natural world is and how interconnected everything in it is. Also, our view of the world is largely shaped by our personal development, knowledge and experience, and is therefore very subjective.
You mainly work at night and in the most remote and inhospitable places. How do you scout those locations?
It involves lots of searching. Sometimes we get tips from locals. The best places are the ones where I can work and we can live as a family for a while. Last summer we spent time on the Isle of Mull on the Scottish west coast. We visited this fantastic beach with very special rock formations. Because we stayed there for a longer time, we met lots of people from the local community. The girls had a great time and I had plenty of time to do research and work at night.
Daan Zuijderwijk, Sotonera Revelation #01, 2023, ROOF-A
Is there any specific location you would you like to photograph?
We are planning to return to northern Sweden next winter. I'm really looking forward to it. The polar landscape is beautiful to photograph, but not easy. We were also there in 2020 and became friends with Sami shepherds there. We now want to return to get to know the Sami culture better.
Where are you currently working on?
I am currently in the Netherlands and have just finished a fantastic solo exhibition at ROOF-A in Rotterdam and at Unseen Amsterdam. This is the time for me to share my stories, see friends and family and initiate new projects, so that we can travel again with something to look forward to.
Daan Zuijderwijk, Golden Boulder #01, 2023, ROOF-A
