Hello I’m Florian Braakman

De Stem en het Water, 2026 (The Voice and the Water)

Florian Braakman drew inspiration from the waters of Zeeland and spoke to both those living ‘inside the dykes’ and those ‘outside the dykes’ about living with water, which involve difficult moments as a sense of wonder at its ultimate beauty.

Bert Haanstra’s 1966 documentary ‘De stem van het water’ (The voice of water), which explores the Dutch people’s connection to water and how they live with it, prompted him to examine the waters of Zeeland from various perspectives and reflect on them. The beauty of the ever-changing, the power we as humans wish to control – can we hold back the water, or must we become aware of our own fallibility? At the same time, for him it is also about connection: between people and nature, between people and people, with new generations, with newcomers, by looking back and looking forward. By continuing to dream. In his film, he pays tribute to the capricious sea by giving it a human voice, through which the personal merges into a universal feeling.

Florian was an artist in residence in the program of the Watersnoodmuseum from March till May 2026.

Text: Esther van Rosmalen

Video, interviews & editing - Florian Braakman
Editing assistent - Sarah Rose Guitian Nederlof
Sound design - Charly van Rest
Music - Luuk de Klein
Curator - Esther van Rosmalen
Watersnoodmuseum - René de Landmeter