Using the style of Dutch Golden Age painters as a jumping-off point, and objects passed down to me from my Dutch grandparent’s family, I photograph flowers grown in my downtown Toronto neighborhood alongside the flora and fauna that live and thrive in our urban environment. While the 17th-century artworks were made in an era of expansion and exploitation, these images strive to preserve what is now threatened by climate change. The birds are loaned to me through the Royal Ontario Museum from the FLAP.org migrating bird program.

“…it is her contemporary reimagining of the philosophical underpinnings of vanitas still life that offer the most formidable intrigue. In Sjaarda’s recent works, vanitas is no longer a symbolic reminder of the inherent transience of solely human mortality, but rather looks farther outward instead – an admonition to respect and preserve the ecosystem and environment at large that supports human existence itself.”

-Tara Westerman, curator

The images are a reflection of both my Dutch immigrant family and the city that I live in. Printed and presented larger-than-life, the scale renders these fragile subjects in a manner that is powerful, provocative, and immersive.