Island Findings follows Elleke van Gorsel (NL) on a personal journey between two islands: Tholen in the Netherlands, the landscape of her childhood, and Iceland, a geologically and geographically contrasting environment shaped by volcanic forces. The project grows out of concern about the decline of biodiversity and a wish to reconnect with nature.

Back on Tholen, Van Gorsel searches for traces of the nature she remembered as a child: fields, grasses, wild flowers, insects, birds and small organisms. Looking at the landscape with the same childlike wonder, she documents its smallest elements without disturbing them, capturing the appearance, fragility, resilience and uniqueness of flowers, leaves, mosses, seaweed and other forms of life.

The project then expanded to Iceland, where she compared two island ecosystems with completely different geological origins, working in the quiet hours of morning and evening light to photograph volcanic landscapes, microstructures and exceptional colours. The book brings together photographs and texts on the ecological and cultural significance of these landscapes; some photographs are further transformed with drawing, ink, chalk and embroidery. Combining personal memory, artistic research and close observation, it reflects on biodiversity, vulnerability and our changing relationship with nature.