Daan Zuijderwijk and Maaike Vergouwe

In 2017, the artist and photographer Daan Zuijderwijk embarked on a quest for a different way of living with his partner Maaike Vergouwe and their three daughters Fenna, Alba and Isolde. The life they sought was one that brought them in closer proximity to nature than their previous one, with a smaller ecological footprint. The family left the Netherlands, with a tiny house on wheels, journeying across the various outbacks of Europe.

This simple and flexible lifestyle did not just prove to be a good way to cope with the pandemic, it also changed their view on society in a fundamental way. At BredaPhoto, they will make a stopover and park their house on wheels to set-up a temporary tent. Called Nomadland, the camp will serve as a space for them to share their stories.

With this installation, Zuijderwijk wants to draw attention to the nomadic perspective—a fresh outlook that emphasises a new way to look at western society, in order to negotiate through current and future challenges.

The installation includes images from their life as well as Zuijderwijk’s conceptual works. The latter have been produced over many hours of walking, running and climbing across varied European landscapes at night. Zuijderwijk “manipulates” the landscape by adding lines, circles, colour or lights to his visual renditions in an attempt to reveal its hidden aspects and to highlight that our perception of the landscape is a combination of our senses and imagination.