Kyra Nijskens (Ulestraten, 1997)
I’m drawn to the quiet but powerful ways nature tells its stories: the growth rings of trees recording time, the camouflage patterns of insects hiding in plain sight, the way geological layers hold histories far older than our own. These forms speak of adaptation, resistance, and transformation, not only as natural events but as metaphors for identity, self-creation, and change.
In my practice, I’m less interested in representing nature and more interested in working alongside it— finding moments where its patterns can challenge or disrupt the narratives we have told ourselves about what is ours and what is not. My approach is a mix of poetic reflection and critical exploration, focusing on how human activity reshapes ecological and cultural landscapes. Through the use of materials and narratives that expose the tensions and interdependencies between natural processes and man-made systems, I create objects that feel both familiar and alien, reflecting the resilience of life that exists beyond human control.
Poems:
The Thief of Tides
I linger in the dark mouths of pipes,
telling drifting tales of migration.
I slide beneath steel gates,
folding myself into the creases of industry’s breath,
feeling the heat of its pulse as it hums.
I am the wanderer, the thief of tides.
I am the silent saboteur,
hitchhiking the waves of globalization.
I bind myself to the pulse of the engine,
slipping between tongues and tides,
gleaming with memories of distant shores.
I listen to the heartbeat of the world and call it home.
Becoming Butterfly
The butterfly's kiss a touch so light
Decomposes old constructs a new sight
Transmits magic a power untold
See blindly immerse imagine bold
Hard shells cotton duvets protection shields
Soft pillows comfort that yields
You could be me I could be you
Anything anywhere anytime anew
Disrupt linear time let it bend
Nameless unspoken undefined transcend
Dislocated from what once was
Inside and outside a line erased because
Inclusion and exclusion mattering and not
Past and future a binary forgot
Camouflage and dissolve blend and be
I for invisible a new identity
