Natural Habitat by Nazif Lopulissa

Last month Nazif Lopulissa created a concrete wall relief titled Natural Habitat (2020) for the Rotterdam edition of this year’s Pow Wow Festival. Much like the mortar holding the bricks from the wall together, the artwork is made from concrete, as if the image seeps directly from the wall beneath it. In an area that is rapidly changing, this wall relief is both part and product of urban redevelopment. It is a character created by its own environment, as it would not have been made without the circumstances that render it visible. Instead of making a public work that would mask the characteristics of its own site, Nazif Lopulissa decided to make a work that would make people think about the place where they are namely Rotterdam South.

Photography by Rokus Wilmink & Martyn Mjay