“I am partic­u­larly inter­ested in how these narrat­ives emerge from close obser­va­tion of natural phenomena, how they relate to phys­ical processes such as freezing and thawing, and how they continue to shape contem­porary percep­tions of land­scape and climate.” 

Hagar Schuringa – Myths of Water and Ice

How do myths emerge from land­scapes? And what happens to these stories when nature itself changes?

Dutch artist Hagar Schuringa explores chan­ging land­scapes and the ways in which time becomes visible within them. Working across drawing, photo­graphy, install­a­tion and prose, she invest­ig­ates natural processes that continu­ously shape our envir­on­ment – from erosion and rock form­a­tions to the slow retreat of glaciers. Her work brings together the fragility and immense force of nature. 

During her resid­ency at Villa Sonnen­berg, she will focus on myths, legends and folk beliefs surrounding water and ice. Stories of rivers and springs, moun­tain spirits and glacial land­scapes will serve as starting points, along­side figures such as the Rollibock from Alpine folk­lore. Schuringa is inter­ested in how such narrat­ives emerge from obser­va­tions of natural phenomena and give form to ideas of trans­form­a­tion, disap­pear­ance and renewal. 

The project continues themes from her previous work. For the series “Miage”, she visited the Miage, Mer de Glace and Glacier des Bossons in 2024. She combined histor­ical photo­graphs and post­cards with her own images to create new, layered land­scapes, revealing trans­form­a­tions that often become visible only over longer periods of time. 

At Villa Sonnen­berg, Schuringa will develop large-scale, layered draw­ings in which tradi­tional folk­lore meets contem­porary exper­i­ences of climate change. She asks how myths continue to evolve as the land­scapes from which they emerged are them­selves trans­formed.

Curriculum Vitae

Hagar Schuringa is a Dutch visual artist based in Amsterdam. She gradu­ated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2021. Her prac­tice spans drawing, photo­graphy, install­a­tion and prose and explores how the passage of time mani­fests itself in natural land­scapes. 

Her artistic research has taken her to Alpine glaciers and to the Hard­anger­f­jord region in Norway. During a resid­ency at KH Messen, she developed the series “LANDIS”, examining traces left by the glacier that once shaped the land­scape. Works from this series were presented at Unfair Amsterdam. 

Her series “Pink Noise”, developed during a resid­ency at the Frans Masereel Centrum, was exhib­ited at Galerie Caroline O’Breen in 2023 and received several awards. In 2025, her glacier works were presented at Prospects, Art Rotterdam. 

Since 2023, Schuringa has also been involved in running Kate, a self-organ­ised art space in Amsterdam. 

Website: www.hagarschuringa.nl