I've been back to work for a while now, but in these circumstances I can hardly call it 'work'.
As a home office it is more than bearable.
A little over a year has now passed since I announced my decision to stop painting to devote myself to the global ecological crisis we are in the midst of.
The following months began a period of studying, informing and brainstorming about the form my future projects can take. In the fall I started working on my website.
After my father passed away in January, work on that website, which will serve as a platform for my future projects related to the climate and biodiversity crisis, has been put on hold for a while. A break that also had good sides.
Ideas and intentions have taken shape during that time, and as a result, the website itself and the process of making it also changes.
Building a website is new to me - I'm a painter and draftsman, not an IT whiz kid.
But I've enjoyed it so far. I would even call it slightly addictive. The new platforms on which you can build your own site are now very advanced, and the possibilities are impressive. The interface is simple, intuitive and clear, and it is a pleasure to get to know such a new world. There will still be limitations with regard to the tools that professional web designers use, but on the other hand, there is the very great freedom that I have to immediately shape any change in my idea in the structure of the site. And since my projects will certainly evolve in form and intention, that is a very nice feeling, a bit like the absolute freedom that a painter has on his canvas or paper.
It will be the platform for my blog, but also for the other projects whose preparations will start this fall.
One of those projects will be a travel project:
I want to plan four long trips across Europe (one in each wind direction) to help visualize the climate and biodiversity crisis.
Also on those trips I want to use photography, a blog and essays to create a travelogue that paints a vivid and accessible picture of the situation in Europe.
I don't just want to help visualize the damage to our habitat and to ourselves, the devastation and the misery; but also the positive evolutions and initiatives that are already taking place everywhere.
I want to portray not only places but also people: those who are already suffering from the crisis, but also those who are already working on a different way of living and thinking. Those who are committed to preserving what remains of biodiversity and nature, and those who look ahead at how we can restore our living environment. Those who bring ancient knowledge back to life, and those who are already imagining what is to come.
Obviously, I want to make these trips as climate-friendly as I can, and I am also looking at various options for this.
In the blog I will also report on the preparations for these trips, and help spread ideas and projects of others. There are already many thinkers, scientists, activists and visionaries who are charting new paths and possibilities, but their work rarely makes it to the mainstream media.
More news at the launch of my website, if all goes well during the fall.