Regeneration Starts With Telling the Right Stories - Diane van der Marel

This is a clip from our conversation with Diane van der Marel.

Like to know more? Find the full episode here at The art of co-existence podcast.

Hosted by: Daphne Frühmann
Editing: Axel Frühmann
Music: Mark Oomen
Instagram: @theartofcoexistence
An Ourcelium Publishers podcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

You're about to listen to a short clip from a previous conversation. For the full episode, go to our podcast channel.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

I think if we want to go to the future, we should look how we can make a system which does work, which is resilient enough to be in the same sync with the whole planet. I think there getting the right stories, getting the right words, getting um the right imagination is uh essential to bring us to this new thinking of who we are.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

I think that's a nice bridge to actually talk about your your personal um artistic practice and maybe also the other things that you do as an impact investor. So in my uh introduction, I mentioned a few titles that I think belong to you, which is an artist, photographer, and impact investor. What would he say at this moment, right now, today, is the one that you identify with most?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Ooh, it's a good question because they all collide together in a fact. I think that's being trying to get the right stories across. And I try to do with the impact investing, I try to do that as much as possible with things where stories are made. So that's uh documentary work, that's also platforms like Waterbear, which is a great uh platform if you want to um get inspiration about uh new uh thinking, about uh nature um restoration projects and everything. It's it's a documentary, and a lot of good people are adjoining that. And on the other side, I made a documentary myself about uh regeneration. I worked together with uh uh We Are the Regeneration to show a really nice project in the uh uh hills of Catalonia in the Pyrenees, where uh a river is drying up, in fact. And that whole river, which is called the Muga, that's also the name of the documentary, and Muga um it sounds a bit like mother, but it is like a mother because what the river does it gives water to the whole north of Costa Brava. And I mean Costa Brava, that's where all the people go for holidays, a lot of people, yeah, and where they fill up their um swimming pools and where they're very dependent on water, and nobody gets the relationship that if the river doesn't flow, there is not going to be water. And we just think, oh no, it's gonna be fine. It's not going to be fine. It's it's a huge problem. And also fire if things are drying out is a huge problem, and the whole ecosystem within um the whole Catalonia within the Pyrenees has um is not in the right um, doesn't work because there's too many oak trees which are sucking up the water because of a system of coal. It's a it's a complicated story, the balance is not in balance anymore, basically. It's not in balance, and the whole documentary explains that's how nature works, how people work, and how they can work together.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

And it's all about regeneration. So that's so that is a recent project that you participated in in actually making the documentary yourself. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Um together with a team, of course.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

And there in that uh project, you had the role, it was more of an artistic role because you were uh directing or filming the well there's another filmer, but together we we made the story together, and um I found it the the voice of the river was was one of the um things which was quite exciting to do, but worked really well. Um and I was also the initiator of it because I knew the both the projects, both the foundations of We Are the Regeneration, telling the stories of a lot of people who are busy with ground-up rooting projects to really uh bring back life into um into different uh areas, and then this this concrete um project of this Dutchman, um Stefan Donger, who is is with a lot of people around him regenerating a hundred thousand hectares of the Pyrenees for uh prior fire prevention and getting back life again, like the water flowing and the animals back again. And it's it's a fascinating uh uh story to tell. And also, we hoped with the movie that it's not only to explain people, but also to give the feeling of belonging again. So we filmed it in a way that people really want to belong and want to participate in these kinds of things.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Yes, it's a beautiful documentary. I've I've watched it myself, of course. I am curious for you uh as a as a photographer as well, when you use a lens uh to tell other people's stories, and in this case with the camera, you're using that lens to visualize the story of the Muga Valley uh and of the community in that area. How do you think a camera helps you, or what does this lens that you carry with you mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 5:01

I think what a lens does is it it of course it's uh you're you're you're framing. Whenever you're using a camera, you're you're using a frame. And um you're you're you're directing people to get them to see something and move them in a way if you're if you do it the right way.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

You are listening to a short clip from a previous conversation. For the full episode, go to our podcast channel. Thank you for listening to the Art of Coexistence, a podcast produced by our Celian publishers, editing by Axel Frumann, music by Mark Omen, and hosted by me, Daphne Fruman. Find us on your favorite podcast app and give us a follow, like, subscribe, andor share, and we'll see you again soon.