When it’s low tide the ships must wait on the river Scheldt. Only when it’s high tide can they enter the port of Antwerp. I, too, keep a close eye on the exact time of the river’s low and high tide because upriver treasures are revealed by the retreating water. To not forget, I scribble the precise moment the river will be at its lowest on my hand. One month long I beachcomb the banks of the Scheldt every day; plastic boots on my feet and a little shovel at hand. Every day I spread out all my findings on a kitchen towel: prehistoric shark teeth, medieval meerschaum pipes, contemporary plastic object…

Here, at the MUHKA INBOX, you can come and have a look at 31 kitchen towels.

I’m Bram Van Meervelde. I’m an Antwerp artist with Galerie Transit, Mechelen. My uncle has been beachcombing for decades and often took me with him to the beaches of the Scheldt when I was a kid. Two years ago I reconnected with this childhood memory and started walking along the drift lines again.

Jasper De Rycker

Artists: Bram Van Meervelde