Duurzaam/Sustain/Tene
Listen to Sharelly talk about the project in a one hour interview on the radio Kunststof NPO1 (in dutch)
The Rijksmuseum commissioned photographer Sharelly Emanuelson to document sustainability in the Netherlands and the six Dutch Caribbean Islands. In the exhibition, Duurzaam/Sustain/Tene Emanuelson assesses the balance between humankind and our environment in light of climate change and its impact on our daily lives – from the waste treatment industry to tiny human acts such as reusing PET bottles creatively. I worked as the researcher and for the production with Sharelly Emanuelson on this project for the segment in the Netherlands. In the spring and summer of 2022, we visited and photographed waste treatment at AEB Amsterdam, and various projects at TU Delft and the Linen Project in Nijmegen. Document Nederland 2022 runs from 23 September 2022 to 15 January 2023 in the Rijksmuseum’s Photography Gallery
I looked at activities, situations, and objects in private and public spaces alike. What are we doing for sustainability in our daily lives? Do different generations and cultures approach it in different ways? For me, it was about what we need to be considering, not about what’s good or bad. What do we want to hold onto, and what are we going to have to let go of? – Sharelly Emanuelson
The photographs are grouped in the exhibition into a variety of themes, each of which centers on human activities. They show the different ways people engage with issues such as water management, erosion, and waste processing. The consequences of these activities vary: from minor to major, and from temporary to permanent. Emanuelson took the photographs in the Netherlands and the six Dutch Caribbean Islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten.