Bethany van Rijswijk

Bethany van Rijswijk
Rosetta, Tasmania, Australia

STATEMENT

I create hand cut collages from found images such as vintage botanical illustrations, Golden Age still lifes, and Renaissance paintings. Offering up fantastical worlds created from remnants of our own, I seek to challenge some of the “oppressive phantasms” of our time through a critical engagement with mythology and folklore. Through the medium of collage, I disrupt familiar notions of scale and import. Flowers and toadstools tower over humans and dew-soaked leaves are parted to reveal hidden worlds. My work asks the viewer to look closely, to acknowledge the festival of relationships that surrounds us, and to reconsider our supremacy within it.

BIO

Bethany van Rijswijk is a collage artist and writer based in Tasmania, Australia. Her visual art has been exhibited within Australia and internationally and she has been granted residencies in Tasmania, New
Zealand and Sweden. Her collages have been featured in various print publications including Broccoli Magazine, Mushroom People, Catnip Magazine, Future Lutruwita and Folklore for Resistance. In 2023, her book of essays and collages exploring the folklore of poisonous plants and fungi entitled The Invisible Harvest: A Microhistory of Heretical Herbs was published by Broccoli Publishing. She is currently collaborating with Broccoli on a series of collaged oracle decks which includes The Mushroom Oracle, The Seashell Oracle and The Flower Oracle.

ARTIST CONTACT

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INSTAGRAM

IMAGES