In her work, Maria Fraaije creates portraits of landscapes, because she believes every landscape has a face. Although she has an academic background and five years of experience as a consultant and researcher in sustainability, she has come to realize that this sustainable future begins with paying attention to the present and what is alive today. That’s why she no longer conducts academic research about an uncertain future. Instead, she makes wonder about today tangible through drawing.
She has a simple process, by wandering through landscapes, capturing what she sees: a cliff at the end of the moss, a strange sheep, a fierce storm, a fly in the way that keeps returning and turns out to be bright green. Drawing as a form of looking, and looking as a form of attention.
After the walk, she creates larger works on paper using watercolor, charcoal, and chalk. The result is a landscape that lies somewhere between observation and memory – a fragmented portrait of a small landscape that you can hold.
In recent years, she has received talent development grants from the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, worked as a city artist for Rotterdam, and exhibited, among others, at Kunsthal and Fundatie, showcasing visual stories and illustrations.
