Els Dietvorst collects natural objects that wash up on the shore. She makes paintings of them, with bistre. She fashions driftwood into a tree, or works on it with a burner. The burnt lines on these wooden sculptures depict people or animals. Dietvorst collects, treats and admires what nature has to offer. Her rituals lend a new function to existing matter and cast it in a different light. Just as Dietvorst shows in her video work, that she respects people and invites them to look at her in a different way, so too, in her recent work, she shows appreciation for our environment. Nature is to be nurtured and respected. As human beings we are but part of a larger whole and everything is connected.

(source: April 2021, Indra Devriendt)