ELVIRA VAN BOCHOVE Transmitting through art
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Like you, I am stardust. My human body is made up of mostly water. The water is oozing out of me, feeding my surroundings, reuniting with all water, entering other lifeforms.
Isn’t it sad that we feel less and less free to swim in the waters that nature lays before us. that we no longer dare to eat the apples from our own trees… While apparently there is no reason to change course.
For example, factories can pollute our waters because our governments allow them. For money and power. We need to stop this!
‘POP-UP Wantij’ was an exhibition that provided a platform to Dordrechts visual makers, musicians, dancers, spoken word and performers. But also the stories of the swimmers, the value and meaning that the pool has built up over the years, were shared with the public.
My acrylic painting series “Within the water” were in the exhibition. Also, we made Watercircles on the pool grass with Deosil Scylla, my wonderful magicdancers.
The water we used came from the Merwelanden, the little lake that is closed now because of the PFAS pollution. And also from river Wantij, the rain, the pool, Three Rivers point and other spots on the Isle of Dordrecht.
Once it is out of our hands, it will continue its journey through the world…
July 2023 – Garagedoor. This is a tail-piece to “Interconnectedness in Time part 1”:
“Waterbabies” grow, play and make roots…
Interconnectedness in Time part 1
"Water shapes lives and makes roots..."
The lives of the people of Dordrecht have always been impacted by water.
People are connected to water for sustenance, but also through labor and recreation. We have a history with water but also dreams and expectations for the future. Our actions in the present and past have an impact on how water will be in our lives in the future.
Interconnectedness in Time – mural +/- 140 m2
Noordendijk Dordrecht
At the centre is a meandering stream of water with branches like a root system, that connects the image of the past with the future.
Right under the roof is a fragment of a photograph from 1900 by Hendrik Johannes Tollens. It shows the beam holes on the Noordendijk, water basins where logs were preserved. For centuries these were an essential part of the timber trade that provided a living for the citizens.
The white silhouettes at the bottom represent the future. It is a diversity of people from the neighbourhood, who stand hand in hand in the water. They reflect the desire and necessity to live together with the water.
Projectmanagement Lotti Hesper/Stichting voor de Werkplaats
Interconnectedness in Time part 2
"Water shapes the land and makes roots..."
I created this work on the inside of a Watertower (part 2) and on a wall at a dyke (part 1) on the lsle of Dordrecht. It is representation of being connected through water, in time and space.
Dordrecht became an island at the St-Elisabeth flood of 1421. This flood caused major changes. The dikes broke through, villages were washed away, the water was everywhere. The consequences unfolded in the following years. Suddenly there was an inland sea, with this island in it. Slowly but surely the Biesbosch was created. In the following centuries, areas were reclaimed, and the island was shaped into its current form.
Interconnectedness in Time – mural +/- 61 m2
Watertower Dubbeldam
The streams on the walls represent the influence of the waters on shaping the Isle of Dordrecht. On three of the seven floors there is a map of the island from a period of the past to the present. Water is flowing from it as a root system, part of the cycle.
Waterflyers – 20 x 50 cm, acrylic on canvas
Water flows through us all, and we flow through water. It connects and transports. We can fly like angels the moment we perceive all this stardust, and be one in water.
Waterflyers