A pathfinder activates their senses to achieve a heightened form of attention to the living world outside. They gather signs, make connections, and create stories to make the invisible visible. It is a lived, inclusive form of inquiry, rooted in sensory perception. Not just romantic sensibility, nor merely reductionist science, but an attentive immersion in the world. Poetry interwoven with knowledge; the handwriting of a cloud, the grammar of a leaf, the silence of a riverbank. There is no gap between nature and culture, only a lack of attention.How can you look differently, truly see, in a society where the attention economy clouds our vision?
The world takes shape because we look at it. The camera is a looking machine, an instrument for seeing the world better, differently. Fascinated by the tension between being and seeing, misha de ridder wants to reveal our relationship with the world rather than romanticise it.
i am nature
I don't paint nature. I am nature. - Jackson Pollock
Pollock wanted to immerse himself in the creative process. Instead of depicting subjects, he wanted to paint the feeling itself. He dripped and threw paint to create dynamic, abstract compositions. He needed no models, because the world's endless inspiration was already contained within him.
The autumn of 2025 was exceptional. misha de ridder wanted to photograph the feeling of autumn, not autumn itself. He usually works with a technical camera on a tripod, very precisely and controlled. But for i am nature, he adopted a freer, more direct approach. Using a high-resolution digital camera and a telephoto lens with a built-in image stabiliser, he shot handheld in the city.
The result is a series of thirty works - dynamic, energetic, full of movement. Made in the middle of Amsterdam, yet it feels as if you are in the wilderness. If you look closely, you can see the city shimmering in the background. Look around you, look closer: the inexhaustible magic of nature is everywhere. You don't have to travel far. It is within you.
Galerie Caroline O'Breen presents a preview selection from i am nature at Art Rotterdam 2026.