Who is Nora?

Welcome to our family home in
Merzouga. We hope you had a comfortable stay with us here.
Why did you choose this location to stay?

I wanted to make my art work in Africa. I chose the Sahara Desert. Your court yard seems to be a nice place to prepare my art work. The desert dunes start in your backyard. This is one of the closes place to the Sahara desert.

How did you deal with the heat & temperature conditions here?

You have to go with the weather. In the day it is too hot to work. I was wearing a barber turban to protect my head from the sun & dust.

Please tell me why a woman from the Netherlands would want to go to the desert at 6am to do art work.

This work is part of a series. The Sahara is a unique place  where I have to deal with different elements and light. I wanted to see the sun coming up affecting the pattern in the art work.

Did your art installation work?
Yes: The colours reacted differently from the lights in Europe. It reacted differently than I expected. The different materials pattern appeared in different stages.

What is the philosophy / story behind your art installation.

As in previous installations, the “Crater” philosophy is to adapt to the environment  & the conditions.

Did your “Crater” adapt to the conditions  in the Sahara?

The sand & the sun was part of the art work . To see their interaction was very nice.

How long did it take for you to construct your art work at 6am in the dark in the desert?
Due to a lot of preparation the final construction took 45 mins.

Did the Moroccan culture affect your work? How?
The styles you see here are more loose.
It was easy to prepare my art work in a relaxed environment. It was easy to let the idea go of constructing a tight crater whilst the concept still stands.

What reactions did you get from people viewing the final images of your art work?

I enjoyed the amazed reactions. I think art should raise questions. Very nice to see people wondering why this artificial  object has become part of the environment.

What was the objective of doing this art installation?

I want to explore how the concept stands in a different environment. It’s adaptation to the elements. How is manifests itself. How it reacts in a different environment and culture.

Tomorrow you start your return trip back to the Netherlands. Will you return again to the Sahara?
I would love to. But my next “Crater” will be in a different environment with different challenges.

Thank you for your stay. We hope you enjoyed our local hospitality
Safe journey home.

I sure did. Thank you very much.