Dōnō
Dōnō, 2025, Birch wood, branches, brass, honey, salt, water, seeds, bog myrtle powder, bog myrtle leaves, beeswax, cranberry jam, sand, coal, poem, 200 x 160 x 40cm x 40cm - or various dimensions.
Exhibited at The Wind is Always There, No Exceptions, a joint presentation for the participants of Culture & Nature Network 2025 at Pictura Groningen.
"What does nature give you, and what do you give it back?" This question inspired artist Beth Wong to develop her installation Dōnō, built around a birchwood structure with eleven materials that reflect the Terschelling landscape. With a poetic eye, she explores our place as humans in nature and how we relate to what the landscape provides.
As a temporary islander on Terschelling, Beth explored a diverse landscape, with beaches, dunes, heathland, and forests. To get to know the landscape, she spent time with locals, who showed her how they forage and grow food and listened to their stories about the island. This is how she learned about the cranberry, a plant that, like herself, arrived on the island as an outsider. Although this plant is now inextricably linked to the island, Beth became fascinated by the bog myrtle, a native plant with aromatic leaves used in beer, among other things.
The idea that she, as an outsider, could focus on a shrub with native roots intrigued her and formed a key starting point for her new work. She wrote the poem "Myrica Tale," a poetic reference to the sweet gale (Myrica gale): a declaration of love about how a native shrub protects and takes other plants and animals under its wing.
In Dōnō, Beth explores the reciprocal relationship between humans and nature. Nature is fluid; species come and go. A place where native and exotic species converge, adapt, and re-establish roots. What position do we take in this? And how can we relate with humility to the land and what it gives us?
Not all the materials in the installation, such as cranberries and bog myrtle, but also salt, water, and incense, are immediately visible. The installation functions as a spiritual space that honours the island's materials: a tool for offerings, attention, and devotion, while simultaneously inviting reflection.
Artwork statement written by Gisanne Hendriks
Photo credits to Marc Knip and Hemin Ji
Project supported by Het Netwerk Cultuur & Natuur 2025, Into Nature, Oerol Festival and lots of others.
As a temporary islander on Terschelling, Beth explored a diverse landscape, with beaches, dunes, heathland, and forests. To get to know the landscape, she spent time with locals, who showed her how they forage and grow food and listened to their stories about the island. This is how she learned about the cranberry, a plant that, like herself, arrived on the island as an outsider. Although this plant is now inextricably linked to the island, Beth became fascinated by the bog myrtle, a native plant with aromatic leaves used in beer, among other things.
The idea that she, as an outsider, could focus on a shrub with native roots intrigued her and formed a key starting point for her new work. She wrote the poem "Myrica Tale," a poetic reference to the sweet gale (Myrica gale): a declaration of love about how a native shrub protects and takes other plants and animals under its wing.
In Dōnō, Beth explores the reciprocal relationship between humans and nature. Nature is fluid; species come and go. A place where native and exotic species converge, adapt, and re-establish roots. What position do we take in this? And how can we relate with humility to the land and what it gives us?
Not all the materials in the installation, such as cranberries and bog myrtle, but also salt, water, and incense, are immediately visible. The installation functions as a spiritual space that honours the island's materials: a tool for offerings, attention, and devotion, while simultaneously inviting reflection.
Artwork statement written by Gisanne Hendriks
Photo credits to Marc Knip and Hemin Ji
Project supported by Het Netwerk Cultuur & Natuur 2025, Into Nature, Oerol Festival and lots of others.
