The foundation of a sustainable food system lies beneath our feet but is invisible to the naked eye: the soil food web. This is a fascinating underground web of life consisting of countless microorganisms, each of which plays its own essential role. This is the main narrative my friends of Stichting in Goede Aarde work with. They asked me to make for them a print which they gave to a lot of crouwdfunders. Because their story is about seeing the invisible I wanted to show what I see when we talk about being connected to nature. Because there are clues all over our body that show that we are all from the same design as other organisms and that we have ancestry in all kingdoms of nature. Im trying to connect dots in scientific and poetic ways. Prof. Dr. Lynn Margulis is a huge inspiration for me, especially her book Microcosmos.

Within the circles : Monera kingdom,  bacterial brain ~ Protista kingdom, Amoeba mouth ~ Plant kingdom, Strawberry heart ~ Animal kingdom, Worm gut ~ Fungi kingdom, Mushroom groin.

For the 5 year anniversary of The Pollinators I made this poster design which I ultimately printed with silkscreen technique. They wanted me to include also soil life into my design, partly also after I told them about the giant influence the soil life has on the flowers ability to make compounds to lure in pollinators and to make sweeter pollen and for other plants, sweeter fruits. Biodiversity is a topic that is discussed more and more in parliaments and off course in grass-roots movements that are trying to protect climate and a livable habitat for ourselves and beings we co-exist with. Its the ultimate Buzzword, because as long as there is diversity, there is a habitat for us, if not, there is no buzz to begin with. 

The Netherlands has lost 85% of its biodiversity. Globally, the picture isn’t much brighter — an existential crisis that threatens our survival.
Biodiversity is life’s foundation: clean rivers, lively soils, diverse pollinators, healthy food, and a stable climate. Every action counts. Green your garden, choose organic, and call for sustainable policies. Human beings are eco-system engineers and we are really good at it. At first glance it is not economically profitable to invest in habitat conservation and rewilding neglected areas. But in the long run it is essential for the economy for it is invisibly tied to ecology. Therefor it has the same root: Eco = Oikos = Home

The Baobab is a precious tree, a tree usually takes care of a lot of small creatures around. This giant is there to store water, give shelter, give food in very hot and dry areas. It is actually a giant succulent and it grows in Madagascar  Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana and a few more countries. The tree was chosen because the flat buildings in that area are all called after trees and this building was quitte the oddball. Its casco is from an old data-center so thick and squared, so they chose the name 'Baobab'. With this as the central theme I came to this design. 

The Canvas consists of a wall and a ceiling. For the ceiling I wanted to do a rhizosphere the root-zone of plants. Legends tell stories about Baobabs being trees flipped upside down. So I made the tree upside down in the design creating a root-zone in the sky. As an Artist-biologist I see a lot of parallels between the Microverse, the realm where microbes live, and our Universe, the stars to which we gaze. So I wanted the people to gaze at my microverse like they look at the stars.

Enjoy this selection of photos I took during the process and of the finished work. To visit this work navigate to Burgemeester Annie Brouwerlaan, Utrecht, Nederland.
Many thanks to SSH, Jebber BV, Aline Doppenberg for the assignment and concept development. And I very grateful for all the help I received from Nanskipunanski (Nanna de Jong) Kristel vd Zwaag (Student Illustration, HKU) and Bram Engelaar.

These illustrations are made for a coffee concept. Every bird you can find on a different continent where coffee is produced. The Single bird is the Javan Green Magpie (Asia). The two birds are Glaucous Macaw, (South America) and the three Birds are the Grey Crowned Crane (Africa). 
The Concept is to sell coffee that is also about preserving wildlife, These birds are all on the IUCN red list marked as 'Critically endangered'. It is really sad that some magnificent species tend to disappear. We have to try our best to protect them, these  illustrations are a tribute to their beauty and vulnerability