Topophilia: Landscapes of Belonging

Lees in het Nederlands

In Topophilia: Landscapes of Belonging, artist Cath Duncan invites visitors into a calm and thoughtful exploration of place, memory, and belonging. Using recycled painted papers, poetry, and acrylic paint, she creates textured, abstract works inspired by landscapes and inner worlds.

The artworks reflect on themes such as grief, environmental loss, migration, and the ongoing question of how we find our place in the world.

The exhibition takes its name from the idea of topophilia, which means “love of place.” The term describes the emotional connection people feel to the places they live in and care about. Showing this work at Museum Hoge Woerd – a place shaped by centuries of human movement, settlement, and changing landscapes – adds another layer of meaning to the exhibition.

Recycled materials are central to Duncan’s way of working. Papers that were once used for wrapping, cleaning, or protecting are painted, torn, layered, and rebuilt into new forms. Traces of their past use remain visible. This process reflects the exhibition’s themes of care, repair, and renewal, showing how something that seems worn or discarded can take on new life.

Many of the artworks include strong vertical lines and sharp edges. These lines can be seen as borders – between countries, identities, bodies, and ways of thinking. They also reflect personal experiences of loss and change. Where colours and textures meet and soften, the works suggest moments of connection, healing, and new possibilities.

Colour plays an important role in the exhibition. Warm terracotta tones refer to earth, ancestry, and grounding – the places and histories that support us. Blue colours suggest sky and water, movement, openness, and what we share. Together, these colours express the balance between being rooted and staying open.

Cath Duncan has exhibited in South Africa, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, and her work is held in private collections around the world. She lives and works in Utrecht and draws on her background as a grief support therapist, as well as personal experiences of migration, disability, transracial adoption, and organ transplantation. She describes her art practice as “an exploration of how we stay connected to joy, play, and hope, even in times of loss and fear.”

Topophilia: Landscapes of Belonging offers a space to slow down and reflect on how belonging grows through small, everyday acts of creativity and care – for each other and for the earth we share.