Too slow to notice the trust in Sliek declined,
the fear of Murr grew and Lüttk, the small
shapeshifter was called upon less and less.
The lowlanders learned to see Murr as a
dangerous force that they needed protection
from. They began to distrust the tidal land
where Sliek lived. They started to appreciate
stable land for growing crops and building
their houses. They created straight-lined
patches of stable land in the marsh and built
higher and higher defence walls to protect the
stable land from Murr. The people learned to
measure, to calculate, to strategize. They took
their sticks and pinned Sliek down in squares,
rectangles and trapezoids. And they forgot
about Lüttk.
But Lüttk doesn’t forget, she still remembers.
Lüttk shapeshifts into an algae particle,
softly swaying in the depths of Murr and she
whispers to him. Lüttk shapeshifts into an air
bubble when the tide comes in, and whispers
to Sliek. And Sliek hears her voice and
sometimes f inds the strength to stretch and
slip its body from a pinned stick.
Lüttk also whispers to the people in the
lowlands, behind their dikes. She shapeshifts
into the down feather of a white spoonbill and
whispers stories. Stories of all the creatures
in the land, stories of relation, entanglement,
connection. Stories of Sliek and Murr. Every
now and then there is someone who hears the
whisper of the small shapeshifter Lüttk. One
evening he goes over the dike to meet Sliek
and Murr and to see the moonlight ref lected in
a small puddle.
Linde Ex
Linde Ex is a visual artist, artistic
PhD candidate at the University of
Groningen and the Hanze University
of Applied Sciences Groningen and
a core lecturer at the Fine Art and
Design Master MAPs (Materials
in Artistic Practices Frank Mohr
Institute Groningen She is interested
in how artistic practices can create
valuable relationships within the
morethanhuman world and how
human nonhuman relationships
relate to current ecological
challenges
lindeexnl
wwwlinkedincominlindeex
Linde
Ex
