Curated by Roísín Douglas, the group exhibition Grensverleggers brings together artists who seek out, investigate, and shift the boundaries between humans, animals, and the landscape. Featuring works by Xandra van der Eijk, Ai Ozaki, Deirdre O’Mahony, Amber Veel, Elena Khurtova and Anika Schwarzlose.
For centuries, humans have drawn boundaries—ditches through meadows, fences around gardens, and walls at national borders to keep ‘strangers’ out. Not only for ourselves, but also for animals, we decide where they belong. Some we breed and consume, others we avoid, and some we cherish as family.
In Grensverleggers, curator Roísín Douglas brings together artists who blur and question the lines between species and surroundings. Ai Ozaki explores the relationship between her body and all living beings—humans, animals, even micro-organisms—through her intricate drawings. Xandra van der Eijk exposes the impact of pollution and ecological disruption, revealing how human actions unsettle nature’s delicate balance. In a compelling video installation, Deirdre O’Mahony reflects on agriculture, food systems, and consumption in the context of the climate crisis—examining the entangled relationship between landscape and sustainability.
Especially for this exhibition, Amber Veel, Elena Khurtova, and Anika Schwarzlose created new work commissioned by VHDG and inspired by the Frisian soil. Amber Veel uses ancient tanning techniques alongside natural materials from the Frisian landscape to transform the skin of an animal—once part of the same ecosystem—into a living canvas. Khurtova and Schwarzlose continue their Residue project with a new piece based on the soil of Leeuwarden Airbase, treated here as a physical archive of conflict and violence.
The ground beneath our feet is a source of life, but also a site of extraction, regulation, and resistance. Once land becomes property, it becomes contested. But whose voices are heard in those debates? And who remains silent—not by choice, but by circumstance?
Grensverleggers is on view at Kunstinitiatief VHDG, ’t Naauw 6–8, from 14 June to 24 August. During the exhibition period, a public programme of talks, workshops and activities will unfold—some of it taking place at Bouwurk—in collaboration with artist Sophie Krier (Resident, VHDG Local Programme). Free for all ages.