Drifting Beyond the Lagoon
Unexpectitly she obtained a ticket from the Dutch pavilion for a boat trip, organised as a part of the Herman de Vries exhibition “to be all ways to be”. The exhibited artwork showed itself within the material of natural processes, phenomena and its relationship to human existence. As she walked around the exhibition curiosity surfaced, how would a boat trip to the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio be an extension of this work?
Here are Lise Olsen thoughts and images of that trip on 7 / 7 / 15.
Drifting Beyond the Lagoon
I won’t give the full story away, as there’s always something more to say…
Leaving the green canals behind, a strange lagoon and an island can be found.
Listening to the history of a waterway world with codes of canals and walk on…
Unearthed a thousand or more, the skeletons of plague victims where buried here.
My mind wonders and I think of the prayers and the importance of place now appears.
Imagine the hell…the sick would lay here, maybe three or four to a bed till?
With no future, nothing was uncertain and everything would be clear.
Reluctantly shaking hands, life’s agreement was paid.
Given back in the form of death and decay.
Yet in the gap between then and now, other settled and sanctuary found.
Life remains within that derelict past and new stories grow fast.
A new nature evolves, suggesting human are here.
And an artist gave it a name…
‘natura mater’ signifying nature as mother, reabsorbing and transforming everything.