Travel companies African Bush Camps and Untamed Travelling are joining forces with Rens Lipsius and Lieselotte Verbruggen for conservation. For a month, the artists take inspiration from the Zimbabwean bush and create local awareness of the need for conservation and protection.
Art as a guarantee of preservation
African Bush Camps and Untamed Travelling have launched an innovative project; they use art as a guarantee of preservation. The initiative offers artists Rens Lipsius and Lieselotte Verbruggen a month-long opportunity to get inspiration in the vicinity of Bumi Hills Safari Lodge,on the shores of majestic Lake Kariba near Matusadona National Park. Here they will share their talents and experiences and through their work draw attention to the plight of nature conservation.
Lipsius and Verbruggen will visit local communities to raise awareness of poaching and the need to protect our wildlife. One of them is the Mangwara community which is refurbishing the primary school in the village, a project with a major impact on community development and access to future generations’ educational resources in this area. Attention will also be paid to the process of communicating and informing the community to raise awareness of the need to preserve and protect the environment.
After the trip, Lipsius and Beks Ndlovu (founder African Bush Camps) will come together to share their ideas on the methods of achieving their common goals. As soon as Lipsius returns to Paris, two events will follow, one in his studio in Paris and another in Amsterdam, where the works of art made during the trip will be exhibited and auctioned to raise a conservation fund. Verbruggen (founder Untamed Travelling) and Beks will be present.
About the artists:
Rens Lipsius (1960), who lives in Paris, is an established name in the international art world. The work of the self-taught Dutch multimedia artist can be described as an experimental translation of his love of nature and science into unconventional installations, painting, photography and video. “My work explores light because it shapes spaces and landscapes – it explores painting while shaping contemporary art – it explores art while it forms the landscape of our lives.” For this project he exceptionally steps out of the ideal working environment of his studio and into the raw bush of Zimbabwe.
Lieselotte Verbruggen (1989), daughter of travel guru Verbruggen (founder Untamed Travelling, ed.) grew up in Antwerp and saw much of the world during the journeys she made with her father from a young age. The cultural diversity and rawness of nature that she encounters along the way are the inspiration for her work. “Abstract art, layer over layer, acrylic paint that I mix on the canvas. Where do I get my inspiration? From everyday life and travel. My paintings are my diary.” The aspiring artist has been painting since she was able to hold a paintbrush, in 2018 she started exhibiting in various galleries in Belgium.
