Weaving Visions into Landscapes
January-March 2026
The People
Weaving Visions into Landscapes follows six groups of volunteers, each with their own vision, expertise and purpose.
Come along for a journey where Huub, Gerard and Dick show us all kinds of animals on the Kampina; where pruning a fruit tree is rhythmic and social; where coffee is as important as the actual work; where Bert and Jeanne are scooping for millennia old creatures; where the ‘stronkentrekker’ (stump puller) is a source of pride; and where Jos and Ton demonstrate their knowledge on all willow varieties in Schijndel’s landscape garden. Het Groene Woud is beautiful, but knowing all the skill and knowledge that this place generates is what makes us care about it so much.
The film shows the various skilled visions that are built, mediated and shared amongst the volunteers. The film honours the passion and skill these people harbour and grasps the fun and open atmosphere in the groups. It works as a thank-you to the hard work of the volunteers and hopefully encourages others to join their local natuurwerkgroep as well.
The Story
Curious as what to find, I set out to Het Groene Woud to understand how other people understood and meddled with the supposed nature-culture divide. In an anthropology lecture, it is so clear how nature and culture are structurally opposed. But I see the world as an entangled creature of odd happenings, I must not be the only one right? With this question, I went out to do fieldwork. Only twice did I ask what is the difference between nature and culture to my research participants so directly. One of them plainly refused to answer, because it is an impossible question...Instead, through observation, I found a complex story of entangled understanding. A story of landscapes, human histories, changing practices and curious communities, but ultimately a story of care.
The Methods
Ethnographic film deliberately experiments with footage to question what we are representing in our films.
Shots of hands and eyes dictate many of my scenes. They represent the embodied knowledge and skilled visions. It is also what my own camera understood to be important, before I myself really understood the importance of the concept skilled vision. This is why observational filmmaking is an important ethnographic method: you notice things, before you understand them. The slow pace is a reflection of the care that is put into Het Groene Woud. The long hours of counting tree frogs, of removing tree saplings from heather fields and of sharing excitement over birds, it all builds towards the care we feel for the landscape. The funny tone makes the audience laugh with the volunteers. It shows the kind and curious community that these groups have created.
Thanks to the people from NWG Boxtel, NMC Schijndel, NWG Liempde, Hoogstambrigade Het Groene Woud
Production by Lila van Grieken