Solace in nature (photo exhibition Cobbenhagen building)
January 12 - April 11 | Tilburg photographer Rikkie Nitsche (1997) has been involved in photography since she was 12 years old. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts at the Fotovakschool in Amsterdam and specialized in landscape photography. For Rikkie, the landscape is a place of recognition; nature works for her as a mirror for the soul. Nature also plays a role in many of the artworks on campus.
For example, in the courtyard garden, adjacent to this exhibition, there is a bronze sculpture by Toon Slegers, in which elements such as water, ice, and snow help determine the form. In the hall of Goossens Building, you can find a video artwork by Rob Moonen, in which natural, cyclical processes such as the working of the tides form the motif. The title of that work is Natura artis magistra- nature as a teacher for the artes, the arts, as well as the sciences.
Such concepts also play a role in Rikkie Nitsche's photography. She discovered early on the importance of nature for good mental health: a forest offers peace and quiet, the sea gives you deeper insights. Her urge to capture these types of processes and experiences took shape when she got her first cell phone. As a city person, she attaches great importance to urban greenery; a park, for example, can offer a moment of respite from a busy workday. And, not surprisingly, the importance of plants in the home has been rising sharply again in recent years. Green makes you happier.
Her interest in these themes reveals itself in the title Solace in Nature, which ascribes a certain healing or comforting effect to nature. This exhibition features work she made in this spirit in New York, the city of Tilburg, and on the university campus.
In New York, the epitome of hectic capitalism, she photographed the very sources of tranquility: the parks, trees, and plants. In particular, the so-called High-Line caught her attention, a fairly recent park in Western Manhattan co-designed by Dutch landscape architect Piet Oudolf. It is an oasis of calm, winding over and along an old railroad track, elevated above street level.
In Tilburg-Noord, where she grew up, she photographed what she calls the golden edge of what is known as a disadvantaged neighborhood. Nature plays a larger role there than thought, although it is not the green oasis formed by the Tilburg University campus, where the natural environment has played a major role since the opening of the first campus building in 1962. She experiences the strong symbiosis between nature and culture almost daily, as an employee of the university Library, and as the daughter of a mother who has worked on campus for over 35 years. In that time, the university has grown enormously, more than doubling in student numbers and buildings but without losing the green quality that so characterizes the campus.