hermann de vries* nature sanctuary shows the process of reclaiming abandoned ruins by nature. It is part of a global artistic approach that has been carried out in and by the region for over twenty years.
Everything changes, life is change and metamorphosis, our traces are ephemeral… The Roche Rousse nature sanctuary surrounds an abandoned forest house, and is itself surrounded by a sacred wood of the kind that existed in pagan antiquity. The artist has placed spikes marked with the word silence to invite respect for this sanctuary.
The Roche Rousse site owes its name to a geological peculiarity. The grey limestone cliffs have an orange patina. As for the ruins, in this landscape they evoke the contingency of the world, a central theme of Buddhist thought, the impermanence of all things and of man’s presence. The hike required to reach this site at an altitude of 1,400 metres contributes to the project’s own process of reflection and meditation. *We respect the author’s wish not to write his name in capital letters.
