Maryse Jansen had always lived in Rijswijk and Den Haag in the Netherlands, until she made Australia her home in 2009. A different lifestyle, a warmer climate and lots of natural space beckoned. Maryse and her partner took their chances, applied for permanent residence in Australia and ended up just north of Brisbane, together with their 5yo child.
Within easy reach from there are mountains, beaches, wetlands, mangroves, rainforests, islands and of course the iconic Aussie Bushlands! Driving a little bit further, the red dirt of the outback awaited to be explored!
She says it was wonderful to explore this new world with a young child. She had always had a love for photography so her camera documented all the explorations. Maryse dedicated herself to home educating her child through primary and secondary education. In the meantime a collection of beautiful images was growing and begged to be seen. In 2020 she began sharing them with the world and opened a website with galleries and a shop.
She strongly felt she wanted to do more than that as she had noticed many Australians take their amazing natural world for granted and many others in the world know little about it. She really wanted to share and celebrate the unique beauty of Australia’s wildlife and nature that she had come to know and love.
In 2021, she started a blog, where she shares her images, stories about the images and interesting facts about what you see in the images. And in 2022, a new project was added in the form of a YouTube video-series called ‘Come for a walk in the Australian Bush’. In these videos she shares her experiences of all the amazing things you can see during these walks. ‘Nature is full of surprises’, she says, ‘so you never know what you are going to see on a walk, but that makes it all the more fun and interesting!’
Maryse says spending time in nature (even simply looking at an image depicting a natural scene) and learning more about it, increases our appreciation. It is good for our bodies and minds and also inspires us to help look after our amazing natural world. It’s a win-win situation!
Apart from the visual arts, she also has a life-long love for performing arts. She started musical theatre when she was 11yo and has since then always been involved in the theatre one way or another: singing, dancing, acting, working as a choreographer and leading drama workshops. Currently she is a member of Soul Song Choirs in Brisbane.
Come for a walk in the Australian Bush Trailer Video
For more information: http://marysejansenart.earth/