Onderling

In her new book "Onderling," Miek explores the wilderness that surrounds her. By surrendering herself to the elements, immersing in oral tradition, walking, swimming, and foraging, she seeks to establish her roots on the southern tip of the Isle of Mull.

Through poems, letters, essays, short stories, drawings, maps, and photographs, Miek guides the reader through volcanic eruptions, millennia-old quaking bogs, depopulated fields, Atlantic rainforests, fluctuating tidal flats, swaying kelp forests, and an all-encompassing sky. In this realm, Miek encounters a multitude of organisms and delineates the interrelationships that captivate her. She writes about the potency of nature, observing starfish, clever mushrooms, knuckled oaks, cattle stranded in ditches, and beached whales. Additionally, she delves into the entanglements and misunderstandings between the islanders.

"Onderling' originated from a desire to acquaint myself with the bay, as I wound along Mull's coastline – following animal paths, navigating granite gullies, impulsively crossing sucking marshes and mossy forest valleys, absorbing the island as it absorbed me. The bog attempted to claim a lower leg (settling for a welly), a rocky crevice nearly swallowed me whole, and in one of the streams, I was nearly engulfed."

In the video below, Miek reads the intro of her book.

Onderling is published by Van Oorschot, Dutch, full colour edition, 240 pages, softcover.