Tessel Van der Putte

A hand-framed painting, shrouded and protected by white curtains 6 meters long. At the base of the work is a light and nature installation featuring local water plants, moss, and ferns, emphasizing the growth, creativity, and resilience of nature in seemingly waterless places and urban environments—a metaphor for women's emancipation in a male-dominated world. The poem, displayed like an altar on the pillar, read: 'We all come from the water. This is a sacred place.' Visitors could open and close the veiled curtains. The earthy aromas of the moist plants and moss on the ground of this installation added an extra sensory experience to the work.

The poem on display during the exhibition of these works, said: "Why portray sacred heavens, if life grows from the dark soil below, and if water flows eternally through us all? It is not above or beyond you, it is here. Below your feet. It is you. This diptych of two sleeping bodies - water and earth - depict the wetland of mother earth as sacred. Though sleeping and silent, these waters are old, and run deep."

During the exhibition weekend, I organized a mindfulness and yoga program for visitors, in collaboration with instructor Marjolein Rikkelmans. The program was inspired by the theme of the paintings and water. This is a photo from that moment.

These works depict the nourishing and supportive power of women among themselves. They celebrate the strength found in vulnerability and calm, while also highlighting how these qualities resonate through the metaphor of water. The following poem accompanied the first work on display: 'A luncheon among women, resting at the river banks. It is often at the edge, where we find a new path, a beginning'. A second poem, displayed with ‘The Bath,’ read: ‘A luncheon among women, resting at the riverbanks. It is often at the edge where we find a new path, a beginning.’ This second work borrows its composition from Manet's once controversial 19th-century painting, ‘Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe,’ originally titled ‘Le Bain.’"

As a continuation of the more abstract tree series, this project also references earlier legal works on the rights of nature, such as 'Should Trees Have Standing?' by Christopher Stone. It explores the transformation in thought, values, and cultural patterns of predominantly Western societies compared to many Indigenous cosmologies around the world. It encompasses eco-feminist perspectives on the body and female emancipation.

Two works themed around Midsommar, referencing cyclical ways of life and the reverence for the nature around us. The two women in the pink painting are, like their hair, intertwined with each other and their surroundings—dependent on one another—a metaphor for our existence with the wild nature around us. Rituals and celebrations like these can help us gain perspective and connect with nature.

Two women, intertwined like braids, blend seamlessly with their surroundings. The recycled canvas, with its rough texture, adds a unique layer to the painting. Through intuitive and automatic painting techniques, the 'scars' of the canvas have been incorporated into the image, becoming an integral part of the artwork

Juxtaposition of works from the Vulva Series and the Arbol Adentro Series.

Impression of a recent solo show, titled 'Body Currents' (April 2024). Three hand-framed acrylic paintings on canvas are on display. The works, titled 'Body Currents', 'Water Springs', and 'Four Rivers', depict a harmonious, introspective, and embracing relationship between women and, metaphorically, with the water landscape around us. On the infinity wall behind them, video projections of water currents, accompanied by water sounds, are shown. Each painting was presented with a short poem.

Detail photo and full image of the painting ‘Four Rivers’ – a metaphor for the four seasons and the four stages of a woman's life.

The third, square work is titled ‘Pandora’ and is inspired by the story of Pandora and the jar (more commonly known as Pandora’s box). In this piece, the vase symbolizes water and fertility, knowledge, but also the threat of disaster and misfortune.

These works are personifications of natural phenomena in bodies of water. The accompanying poems are: (1) 'Such reflections we can find of stars and other light when we stop to witness the river streams at night.' The second is also an instruction: (2) 'Take a deep breath in... and a deep breath out... You sound like the waves.' And (3) 'Bedforms dance to the rhythm of the surface. Below the water, change moves gracefully, and time passes with reverence. Tidal changes create and wash away everything we attach ourselves to.'

A self-portrait with the ‘Water Bodies’ painting during an exhibition. The poem exhibited with it said: ‘Our bodies dancing in the waves, becoming the waves. The elements embrace each other’s return: we are water bodies, of water bodies, of water bodies, of water bodies...’

These works both convey a more cyclical view of the world: like an ouroboros, there is no beginning or end. The pieces can be displayed in any orientation, with no top or bottom. Both works are inspired by bodies of water and depict humans as entities that intrinsically carry both masculine and feminine energy, finding their own balance within.

Both paintings allow form and space to flow into one another, leaving it ambiguous whether they depict human figures or natural bodies (like two rivers merging or the movement of an underwater wave). This personification of nature, or 're-wilding' of the female body, reimagines the connection between women and the water landscape around them as inseparable and intertwined.

These two works depict the same female figure, but at different stages of her life. The abstraction of form and environment symbolizes the connections between our human body and the water around us—highlighting how we, as humans, are constantly engaged in a dance of exchange with each other, our surroundings, and life itself, where transformation and continuous change take center stage.

Self-portrait in the 2022 exhibition in Elburg at gallery KunstHub Bink, and a photo of the commission 'An Eternal Morning' or 'Sunday Morning' (2023).

This ongoing project draws inspiration from the resilience and grace of trees, which root deeply and rise skyward, symbolizing personal growth and grounding in our true nature. Throughout the seasons, trees remain steadfast and genuine, never pretending to be anything other than what they are.