Roger Ruhulessin - Moving – Birds 2 Paradise

Moving – Birds 2 Paradise

The showcase exhibition   Moving – Birds 2 Paradise (2023-2024) consists of 30 works and are 'compositions' of fantasy and realistic birds, such as the black-headed gull, crow and godwit, in a setting of drawn walls and towers, photographed windows (after Jan Dibbets), gates and AI-generated architecture inspired by Orwell's 1984.

“My Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood served as inspiration, both through its architecture and through the groups that move on the edge of (Nieuwmarkt) society,” says Roger Ruhulessin. “The 'environment' in which the birds find themselves gives the work a more narrative character that calls for further inspection and reflection. Walls, gates, windows. Who's inside? Who is outside?”

Place and displacement in an ever-changing society play an important role in his work. Closely linked to these themes are exclusion and acceptance, as well as the division and increasingly visible polarization in society.