lassos and tractors
To enter the exhibition hall visitors have pass through a sturdy curtain of vertical blinds, which bear huge landscape photos of Colorado and Friesland: tractors and lassos, green Frisian grass and arid American panoramas. The photos allow visitors to see through the eyes of youngsters who are preparing for the future. And it is a future with great responsibilities, because the sea level is rising in dairy country Friesland, and it's becoming drier on the high plains of Colorado. The landscape around them is changing and so is their future.
film
The visits the yougsters made to each others farms and ranches were edited into a documentary film, Farmers & Ranchers: Growing up in Changing Landscapes. The film reflects on the transitions taking place in the lives of young people on their farms and ranches. The first version will be screened during the exhibition, and the finished documentary will be broadcast as Fryslân DOK on 10 and 11 January 2015, by Omrop Fryslân and NPO 2.
about Wapke Feenstra
Wapke (Wjelsryp, 1959) grew up on a farm with dairy cows. After attending art school and a post-graduate course, she went on to win the Prix de Rome in 1993. As an artist she has always worked in an international context. In 2003 she founded the Myvillages group, with Antje Schiffer (Berlin) and Kathrin Böhm (London), both of whom are from small farming villages. Together they document and express their love of the countryside.
Farmers & Ranchers is an initiative of the M12 Collective from Byers Colorado and Wapke Feenstra of Myvillages. Information about the exhibition can be found at www.friesmuseum.nl. General information about Farmers & Ranchers can be found at www.farmersandranchers.nl.
This project is supported by Nordwin College, Veehouderij, Leeuwarden, Deer Trail High School and the youngsters’ parents. Farmers & Ranchers is funded by The National Endowment for the Arts, the Gates Family Foundation, Colorado Creative Industries, Stichting Doen, Tijl Fonds (BPC), The German Federal Cultural Foundation, Omrop Fryslân and the Fries Museum.
The Fries Museum The Fries Museum is funded by the Ir. Abe Bonnema Foundation, Fryslân Province, het Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland (SNN), EZ/Kompas and the BankGiro Lottery.
