Midnight Salvage
I explore what happens when I let go of control and allow nature to play an active role in the creation of images. I often work with analogue techniques, permitting natural elements to interact with light-sensitive materials. Wind, rain, shifting light, and organic matter leave their marks—either directly on photographic paper or within the frame of an image.
Plants, animals, birds’ nests, and other traces of the natural world appear in my work, telling stories of growth, decay, and renewal. Their silhouettes leave a void, hinting at what surrounds us yet is increasingly fading from view. What have we lost in our understanding of this interconnected world? What might we regain by attuning ourselves once again to its rhythms?
Chance and experimentation are central to my work: images take shape in dialogue with what appears, rather than through full control, and nature shapes meaning with me. Rather than viewing nature as a backdrop or a tool, I engage with it as an active force with its own value and agency. My work is less about documenting nature as it appears and more about rethinking our way of seeing—moving away from control toward a more reciprocal, attuned relationship with the living world.
Find out more:
Website: sophievandijken.com
Instagram: @sophie.van.dijken
