Eleven photographs by photographer Siebe Swart, who specializes in aerial photography, form the core of Friesland from Above. From a bird’s eye view, we see how the polders on Vlieland merge into a nature reserve, how the Sintrale As shamelessly cuts through the age-old bocage landscape of the Noardlike Fryske Wâlden, how Wierum is surrounded by a multicolored patchwork of fields. Swart’s photo of the meadows near Jorwert shows old, irregularly shaped watercourses, next to modern, straight ditches as a result of land consolidation. Grass, ditches and water, it seems like abstract art.
The same is the case with the alienating kite photos that Gerco de Ruijter made in 2009. He was guided by the wind and chance. Part of the exhibition is devoted to ‘remote sensing’, the collection of information from a distance. Infrared or thermal images are made from aircraft or satellites using special cameras. They show how devastating the extreme drought of 2018 was and how a plague of mice undermined many Frisian meadows.
Until 5 May 2024
www.friesmuseum.nl