I became fascinated by the changing urban landscape in London from 2001, the beginning of the huge construction upheaval in our neighbourhood, near King’s Cross St Pancras. Until then, my subjects had been largely rural, particularly the Friesian fenlands of my native Netherlands.
The turning point came when I saw one of the huge iron gasometers being lifted by a crane to be taken away for demolition. I realised then that the destruction of this part of Victorian history should be recorded visually.
One thing has led to another — work at King’s Cross St Pancras gave me the opportunity to record the construction of Arsenal’s strangely elegant Emirates Stadium, followed by the Kings Place arts and media centre and the Olympic Stadium at Stratford. By accident rather than by design, I became the first artist-in-residence at this extraordinary work-in-progress.
It has been an unexpectedly inspiring decade. I have found the medium of the woodcut particularly well suited to recording this episode of death and resurrection of the London landscape.
