Esra van den Berg

A large wooden chest with dirty and deteriorated pieces of clothing and an open book showing drawings of Michelangelo. a picture of a handmade miniture animal known as the Grassgulpper. a handmade piece of clothing for ancient workers a photo of a dried leaf with inscriptions on it in a frame.
On the top right is an open information book with some text and a picture of an old books showing insects. Below the book are two pieces of paper with rough edges. One shows a pen drawing of a skull with text above it in an unknown language. The other piece of paper has only text in the same unknown language. In the top left corner lays another piece of paper with a pen drawing of a dead frog. a zoomed in photo of a wall with frames hanging on a white wall. a picture of a woden made skeleton hand a handmade piece of clothing for ancient workers a picture of a handmade miniture animal known as the Grassgulpper. An open room with a high ceiling furnished for a graduation show for the fine arts bachelor. On the left is a big fireplace made of brick, inside of it stands an old wooden cabinet. Around the fireplace and cabinet are plants, books and frames. A close up of the top of a wooden cabinet covered in dirt and an array of items. A few small glass bottles, a small wooden chest, three small painted portraits on glass lying on top of a piece of fabric, a piece of paper with text in an unknown language on it. In the background is a drawn pair of orange curtains, the white wall and yellow doors.

Title:

Worldbuilding
Worldbuilding is a big part of my art practice and a big part of my life. It satisfies my broad interest topics and keeps me being creative in different ways other than just painting. Worldbuilding is just like the name: building a world. Writers in the fantasy and science fiction genre and game developers are the ones who use it the most for their job, but there is a big community of people who enjoy doing it in their free time. Writing about and spending time thinking about a world with different species, creatures, cultures, geography, languages, most of the time with magic systems. Although I have been working on my own world for almost ten years, I have only recently started to cooperate it within my art practice. During school I have been working out how they fit together and although I am still finding my way in it, it has become a very important part. The world is called Ardyn Najlyn, which translates to New World. The most developed part of the world is an island group called the Islands of Vandar. In my work you will also come across a language you will probably not know how to read. This language is called Simalyrē and has a grammar system, phonetics and its own alphabet. Sometimes I will make the translations known, but not always. The fun thing is that you will not always be able to distinguish the difference between ‘real world’ stories and the stories coming from my world. I want this border to be blurred and people to question what they are seeing. So, please tell me, what do you see when you observe my work? And whose story is it?