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Sabine Rovers


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We’ve always been here
for you. The magical
power of forgotten plants.

Cowboy Kees
Het Rosa Spier Huis
 Wet Feet
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We’ve always been here for you.
The magical power of forgotten plants.

They were always there for me.
Every path I walked, every road I took, they were standing right beside me. And yet I didn't know their names or where they came from. Their beauty sometimes asked for my attention, but I mostly took them for granted. Always rushing, always running. Luckily they didn't give up and stayed there, persistent and strong as they are, waiting until one day I would see them, really see them.
At a point in my life when I felt so stressed and burned out that I had to slow down, finally they started to catch my attention. Step by step a new world awoke before my eyes. A world full of life and energy, vulnerability and strength. Of smells and tastes and a natural beauty that no artist could create. A world full of edible and medicinal plants! How could I have ignored them for so long?
All these plants are unique and essential in their own way. Now I know their names and stories, they have become kin to me. I want to take care of them, as they will take care of me. From now on I will greet them back. Knowing that they will always be there for me, if only I keep seeing them.

And now it is your turn...

to open your eyes to the magical power of plants with all your senses. To explore your surroundings and overcome your plant blindness. It is time for us to get to know the plant world again, just like our ancestors once did.
So go out there and see, smell, taste and touch the wondrous wild world around you! Learn a plant (or more) by name and pass on your knowledge to others. Please don’t forget to always forage with respect for nature and all other living beings.

For this project I have collected 44 common edible and medicinal plants growing in The Netherlands. From every plant I extracted the natural colour from its sap and printed the plant using the old anthotype printing technique. This technique uses only plant sap (which is naturally photosensitive) and sunlight to create a print. Every plant has been printed in its own pigment, eventually showing a forest of natural colours when exhibited together.

These 44 anthotype prints have been published in a card set. Every plant card contains information about the plant on the back, so you can learn their names, unique characters and stories.
It is also possible to order an A4 print (copy of original) on watercolour paper to hang on your wall.

Would you like to order the card set for €35,- or an anthotype print for €85,-?
Please send an email to sabinerovers@gmail.com.

Stay tuned on Instagram or sign up for my newsletter if you want to follow my journey into the wondrous wild! 🌱

This project is supported by The Mondriaan Fund.
Card design by Klaudia Bogusz.



Foraging wall at Art Rotterdam 2025

Hidden behind the greenery, between vast meadows with grazing cows and picturesque farming villages, lives the Dutch Cowboy Kees from Kamerik. Kees chose to leave the modern and stressful society behind and lead a simple and pure life in a little wooden cabin surrounded by nature. Inspired by the old cowboys he lives by his own rules, Cowboy Kees’s rules of life.

With his typical cowboy hat, leather boots and big gray mustache, Kees looks like he came walking straight out of a Western. Although he doesn't ride a horse or roundup cattle, he does share the same values as the cowboys. For Kees, the cowboy life is all about freedom, listening to your intuition and feeling connected to nature. In his self-created cowboy world Kees enjoys the simple things in life.

The pure and free-spirited Kees intrigued me and in the past five years I often visited him, hoping to become a little more cowboy myself. A special friendship formed between us and I learned that Kees's basic and reclusive lifestyle was not only born out of idealism, but also out of necessity. When at some point in his life Kees lost almost everything that was dear to him, he realised that the most essential thing we have here on earth could not be taken away from him: nature.

The power of nature gave Kees the energy to slowly blossom again. He taught me that being a cowboy is not just about wearing a cool hat and leather boots, it’s about the lifestyle that it represents. Simple and pure, back to nature. We need cowboys like Kees to realise what life is really about. Kees is my natural self-help book in our modern society and he might just become yours too.



The Cowboy Kees photobook.
Click on the book for more information.

Exhibition of Cowboy Kees at Fotofestival Naarden (2021) and the graduation show at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (2020).

An (71), voormalig verkoopster in een warenhuis, nu (vieze woorden) bingospeelster: “Lachen houdt je jong!” Christien (72), voormalig medisch antropoloog, nu imker en glas in lood kunstenares: “Word een opa of oma voor iemand, ook al zijn het niet je eigen kleinkinderen." Joost (66), voormalig directeur van een leasemaatschappij, nu rallyrijder: “Probeer de zonzijde van alles te zien, er zijn al genoeg chagrijnige oudjes op de wereld.” Wink (71), voormalig architect, nu drummer: “Stel het kopen van een e-bike zo lang mogelijk uit.” Marian (70) voormalig administratief medewerkster in de zorg, nu line-danseres: “Leef, alsof het je laatste dag is.” Eugene (73), voormalig huisarts en psychotherapeut, nu tuinier: “Heb lief.” Ron (72), voormalig hovenier, nu miniatuur kerstdorp verzamelaar voor het goede doel: “Help altijd iemand als het kan, maar denk ook aan jezelf.” Thecla (72), voormalig directiesecretaresse, nu vrijwillig barvrouw: “Bouw een sociaal leven op en onderhoud het.” Mirjam (61), verkoopster bij een juwelier, oefent alvast met puzzelen voor haar pensioen: “Het leven is een feest, maar je moet wel zelf de slingers ophangen.” Poldie (70), voormalig medewerker technische dienst, nu indiaan en knutselaar: “Reis en geniet, het is zo weer voorbij.” Niny (66), voormalig agogisch medewerker GGZ, nu mediteerster: “Gun jezelf de tijd om te ontspannen.” Pieter (75), voormalig opleider, nascholer, manager en bestuurder bij het Interfacultair Centrum voor Lerarenopleiding, Onderwijsontwikkeling en Nacholing van de Universiteit van Leiden, nu schrijver: “Blijf ambitieus, doe alsof je honderd wordt.” Mohammed (68), voormalig leraar Arabisch, nu vrijwilliger en leraar Arabisch in het buurtcentrum: “Alle druppeltjes met kennis en hulp, vormen samen een rivier.” Frits (72), voormalig makelaar in assurantiën en assuradeur, nu voorzitter Stichting Molen Geesina: “Maak je dienstbaar voor je leefgemeenschap.” Suzanne (68), voormalig assistent in de keuken, nu karaokezangeres in het woonzorgcentrum: “Wees niet bang.” Karel (67), voormalig docent koken, nu visser: “Blijf ontdekken, dan heb je later geen spijt dat je iets niet hebt gedaan.” Paul (65), voormalig analist in de gezondheidszorg, nu natuurliefhebber: “Verwonder je over de gewoonste dingen en je zult tijd te kort komen.” Martin (66), voormalig fotograaf en fotoboekenverzamelaar, nu nog steeds fotograaf, fotoboekenverzamelaar en oprichter van de Martin Parr Foundation: “Get out there and don’t be lazy.” Luana (87), voormalig danseres en kunstenares, nu nog steeds kunstenares: “Neem een hond, dan moet je blijven bewegen.” Rob (67), voormalig hoteldirecteur, nu ultra-marathon renner: “Koop geen geraniums, dan kun je er ook niet achter zitten.” Kabir (74), voormalig universitair docent in geofysica, nu al 23 jaar vrijwilliger bij Steunpunt Vluchtelingen de Bilt: “Gebruik je talenten om anderen te helpen.” Kasmira (75), voormalig verpleegkundige, nu Tai Chi-beoefenaarster: “Aandacht en gezelligheid zijn heel belangrijk, zoek het op in je wijk.”

Wat te doen, na je pensioen?
Een bron van inspiratie voor mijn vader en elke andere (aanstormende) pensionado

Met pensioen gaan is een belangrijke mijlpaal. Het is een nieuwe levensfase die een drastische verandering met zich mee brengt. Geen deadlines, geen vergaderingen, geen collega’s, geen overuren en geen druk meer. Hiermee gaat echter ook een plek en een doel in ons leven verloren, die een groot deel van onze identiteit definieerde. Mijn vader gaat volgend jaar met pensioen, na meer dan veertig jaar hoeft hij niet meer om 6 uur ’s ochtends op te staan, zijn net gestreken shirt aan te trekken en een kopje koffie te drinken, voordat hij de deur uitgaat. Ik kan zien dat hij het spannend vindt om binnenkort te moeten stoppen met werken. Een plek waar hij meer dan 100,000 uur zal hebben gespendeerd.
Nu de bevolking van Nederland aan het vergrijzen is en we steeds langer leven, is het nòg belangrijker geworden om iets te vinden wat we leuk vinden, een activiteit die ons verbindt en betekenis geeft aan ons pensioen. Ik heb 22 gepensioneerden gefotografeerd, onder andere Karel, Niny, Rob, Thecla en Pieter, allemaal met verschillende hobby’s en interesses. Zij hebben besloten niet te gaan zitten wachten tot het laatste kwart van hun leven is geëindigd, maar om deze nieuwe fase te ontdekken en onze perceptie van leeftijd en zijn beperkingen uit te dagen.

Gepubliceerd in het NRC en FNV Magazine.

De ‘Wat te doen, na je pensioen’ weekkalender, een inspirerende vrijetijdskalender voor de (aanstormende) pensionado.

A collaborative project with the residents of the Rosa Spier Huis, a home for elderly artists in Laren. 

Being slightly crazy is nothing to be ashamed of. Especially not if you’re an artist, or if you’re old and grey. When you’re both, it’s even better.
With this idea in mind, I collaborated with 5 residents of the Rosa Spier Huis to make a work embracing the craziness, forgetfulness and confusion that come with old age. Instead of trying to disguise it and seeing it as a limitation, why don’t we use it as a new source of inspiration? In their own rooms in the retirement home, we used existing work from their archives, to make a new work, translating their thoughts and feelings into reality. 

A big thanks to Enna Martina, Marian Smits Kovacs, Maya Pejic, Albert Robbe and Peter Kouthoofd for collaborating and embracing your craziness with me.
A local news reporter at the flooded banks of the river Waal. More than half of The Netherlands will flood if the levees break. Inhabitants of Wamel stand at the flooded banks of the river Waal. A new route will have to be considered for this cyclist going off to work. The 213-metre-high KNMI-mast in Cabauw measuring meteorological information for the Dutch weather and climate. The muskrat catcher with a dead muskrat, a rodent that damages the dikes with its destructive burrowing. The dike worker, preventing the 16,000 km (a length from here to Australia) of dikes from flooding. The lock and weir complex at Hagestein, one of the three complexes that together control a large part of the water management of The Netherlands. The fish ladder provides a way for migrating fish to get around obstacles, like dams. The lock keepers of the Noordersluis, the gateway to the North Sea Canal in Ijmuiden. It is constantly monitored with about twenty cameras so they don't miss anything. A PC used to control the wave machines in the experimentation basin of the Hydro-hall at Deltares. The supercomputer of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), the BullX B500. It is essential in calculating weather forecasts and doing climatic research. An inhabitant of Wamel collecting the debris from the rough weather conditions of the past few days. A recreational drone flyer seeking some excitement after the water in the rivers has risen excessively due to heavy rainfall and meltwater from the Alps. A triaxial cel containing a soil sample from the dikes to test the strength of the soil in the geotechnical laboratory at Deltares. The geotechnical laboratory at Deltares, where they develop innovative insights to make living in deltas safe, sustainable and economically successful. The Oosterschelde storm surge barrier in Zeeland is the largest of the 13 ambitious Delta Works to protect The Netherlands from flooding from the North Sea. The view from the Oosterschelde storm surge barrier in Zeeland.



55% of The Netherlands is prone to flooding if water levels keep on rising and storms become more severe due to climate change. What are we doing to prevent ourselves from getting wet feet? Through which technological innovations are we shaping the land we live in? And are we able to tame it or will nature eventually take over and wash us all away mercilessly?

Luckily the Dutch are famous for their water management skills. From the early middle ages we have reclaimed and defended our land from the sea. Water is in our genes. However this time it's different, in a way it is paradoxical that we are fighting against a natural force that we have now made even more powerful ourselves by contributing to the rapidly changing climate.

How are we dealing with the rising water levels and their consequences? ‘Wet Feet’ depicts the typical Dutchman and his determination to keep our little low lands dry.