Situated in the middle of the river Maas, between the northern and southern parts of Rotterdam, Noordereiland is shaped like a typical riverboat. Bart Lodewijks trekked from its western to its eastern end, making his drawings in chalk on commercial buildings, ship cabins, quay walls, houses, and steel pipes. He then wrote a poetic account of the life he encountered on the island, published in three parts. His presence as an outsider there elicited both questions and stories from the island’s inhabitants; snapshots of trust and distrust. Although wind and rain will inevitably erase the artist’s traces on the island, through this publication it becomes permanently anchored in memory.
