Drowned Bicycle Garden

2025 collage and gouache  15”w, 22”h 

In the Netherlands, tulips may be iconic, but bicycles are just as deeply embedded in the landscape—so much so that Amsterdam’s canals are notoriously filled with them. Whether lost, discarded, or abandoned, thousands of bicycles end up submerged each year, prompting the city to establish an entire department dedicated to dredging them out. As one official put it, “If we don’t remove the bicycles from the canals, they would float on the surface—to the dismay of tourists on boats.”

This collage explores that strange, submerged ecology. Bicycle parts drift through canal water, tangled with blooming tulips. But these tulips aren’t simply decorative—they are built from collaged snippets of the flower’s printed and colorized genetic code. The resulting image is both botanical and mechanical, where human infrastructure and nature converge and decay together.

• Gouache
• Hand-dyed paper
• Painting
• Tye-dye paper