Municipality of Katwijk
Two public murals inspired by history and local bird life.
Katwijk, the Netherlands · Public art commission
overview
What stories can a neighbourhood tell through its walls?
Commissioned by the Municipality of Katwijk, I designed two large-scale exterior murals for residential buildings on Ranonkelstraat and Meeuwenlaan. Each draws on something close to home: the history beneath a changing neighbourhood, and the birds whose names appear on its street signs.
The designs bring together local research, residents’ perspectives, and my approach to visual storytelling. Both are composed to read across a large façade, with smaller details that reveal themselves on repeated visits.
Project status: Preparing for production 2026
Conceptual Framework
The project is structured around two complementary thematic directions:
Ranonkelstraat - Where Past and Present Meet
The Ranonkelstraat mural began with a wish to keep the neighbourhood’s history visible as its surroundings change.
The River Rhine connects past and present within the composition. Above the water, contemporary life unfolds. Beneath its surface, reflections reveal stories of the area’s past.
Archival research and community narratives informed the imagery, including an early twentieth-century aircraft and references to the horticulture that once shaped life near the mouth of the Rhine. These details give residents different ways into the work: through a familiar image, a remembered story, or a question about what used to be here.
The water becomes a meeting point between those generations, holding the past within a picture of the present.
Meeuwenlaan - The rhythm of the seasons in sand and feathers.
Around Meeuwenlaan, birds already lend their names to the streets. This mural brings sixteen of those names into view.
Set within the local dune landscape, the composition moves through spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Birds appear throughout the changing scenery, with small encounters connecting the different parts of the image. A heron beside a robin creates a playful contrast in scale; swallows cross between seasonal sections, suggesting movement and migration.
The mural takes the form of a large, unfolding storybook illustration. Children can look for the bird from their street, while other residents may recognise species they encounter nearby.
It invites people to look more closely at the wildlife around them, and at the familiar names they pass every day.
From drawing to façade
Developing these works means thinking at two scales: the whole building as seen from a distance, and the individual details encountered from the street.
The compositions respond to the proportions of each façade, balancing clear shapes with moments of discovery. Preparation for production also includes the exterior paint system, access equipment, and the practical demands of working outdoors.
The intention is for both murals to become familiar parts of their neighbourhoods, offering something people can recognise, revisit, and share over time.
My approach to public art
I create murals through the stories, landscapes, and everyday details of a place. My role is to bring those elements into a visual world with its own character, while leaving room for people to find their own connections.
In Katwijk, that means working with the Rhine, local history, dunes, and birdlife. Across my practice, the same curiosity connects my public commissions and personal work: how an image can carry a sense of place, and how a story can emerge through its details.
