Milah van Zuilen

In In the Field, artist Milah van Zuilen explores our relationship with the natural environment. Not as something separate from us, but as a system of which we are an integral part. Her work emerges from long-term observation, collecting, and cataloguing in the field. She investigates the relationship between humans and nature through the square, the quintessential symbol of humanity’s tendency to classify and compartmentalise the natural world.

During her walks, Van Zuilen follows self-imposed rules. At times, she focuses on a single plant species within a particular area, mapping its distribution. At other times, she gathers material from every plant she encounters in one location, revealing the richness and diversity of the landscape. And sometimes, she abandons her system altogether and works intuitively. The resulting collages are always rooted in a specific place. A tension emerges between control and surrender, between human systems and the complexity of nature.

Cover image: Portrait of Milah van Zuilen | photo: Tom van Huisstede