Marike Schuurman seduces me with her soft, poetic imagery, which raises all kinds of questions that I cannot easily answer. What am I looking at? Chemical processes? Is there another image to be found in the photo?
In Marike Schuurman's work, the subject and the technique she uses come together very literally. Schuurman works like a researcher, analyzing ingredients and events in the landscape, such as the toxic human footprint of lignite mining. Schuurman finds acidic water (where no life is possible) that she uses to develop her Polaroids.
The work calls us to account. The more you know, the more layered the work becomes. The Toxic series may be poetic, but it does not tell a gentle and beautiful story.
Marike Schuurman (Groningen, 1964) works in Berlijn.
