JAN SAJDAK

Dolers landart exhibition 2018, Dendermonde

 

In the area of Dendermonde the element of water is wery strong. The river, the dijks, the ponds, and between them the earth is full of moisture. The plants grow strong and juicy. This observation led me to the idea of waterbirds. When I have come to the location of Kalendijk for the first time, I have seen there a big Heron, sitting on a fallen tree. It was a good sign to me, showing that the waterbirds idea goes together with the spirit of the place. 

 

I have weaved the waterbirds from willow collected by the river Shelde. They are of undefined species, rather a synthesis of a waterbird shape, somewhere between a heron, an ibis, a crane. A willow pictogram of a bird.

 

I have placed the birds in two locations, by the river side and on the Kalendijk pond. On Kalendijk I have placed them on water, near an unapproachable, wild shore. They can be seen only from the distance, together with the trees and water surrounding them, from the far side of the pond. This situation I like a lot, as the composition of the sculptures and landscape is what is important here, not the detail. As a child I have observed a lot cranes walking on grasslands of northern Poland. They are very cautious and you cannot approach near to them as they fly away. There is something of a secret around them.