Mangrove Rif by Bert Kienjet

Bert Kienjet uses the ancient technique of etching to create artwork inspired by Curacao's wilderness.
 
Decades ago, graphic artist Bert Kienjet shifted his artistic activities far away from his hometown and hometown of Leiden in the Netherlands to Curacao. The special differences between the image of Curacao as a tropical paradise with white beaches and swaying palms, and the reality of an island with an unrelenting, sometimes hostile and difficult to access nature, became a source of inspiration for the artist accustomed to the open Dutch landscape. .
 
To experience this special nature experience for himself, Kienjet walks, when he is on the island, in the rugged mondi of Curacao, and finds his inspiration for the etchings that are now shown here. In this series of etchings, Kienjet depicts the beauty of the rugged wilderness, but also the closedness of the Curacao mondi. For Kienjet, this is a metaphor for the social structure of Curacao society that is distorted and complicated for the outsider. A 'makamba in the mondi'