Earlier this year, Rens Lipsius and Lieselotte Verbruggen left for the Zimbabwean bush to gain inspiration and create local awareness for conservation and protection; Art in the Bush, a prestigious initiative of Untamed Travelling in collaboration with African Bush Camps. The versatile work of the artists they made after their return was exhibited last Friday – after a soft launch in a Parisian gallery – and offered for sale in the Pulitzer’s packed Garden Room in Amsterdam.
At 20.00 hours the doors of the Garden Room waved open for invited guests, Jozef Verbruggen (director Untamed) welcomed the guests with a glass of champagne and explained the purpose of the Art in the Bush project; make people aware of the need for conservation, both on the ground and here.After a round of proposals by the artists to the company, he gave Beks Ndlovu (director African Bush Camps) the floor that spoke about the origin and growth of his bush camps and about the resulting ABC Foundation, which is dedicated to strengthening local communities, conservation and education. Afterwards Lipsius surprised the two men with a lithography as a thank you for making the whole adventure possible. He also stressed the importance of maintaining the flora and fauna far away, also for ecological developments here.
After this enthusiastic introduction, guests could visit the works while enjoying wine and food at their leisure, get acquainted with the artists, network and gain travel inspiration. There was also the opportunity to try out the high-quality viewers and telescopes of Swarovski Optik, a relatively young brand that has quickly gained great fame in the world of bird and nature lovers.
And Untamed would not be Untamed if a trip was not raffled off – with much tam tameness. Sara Maes is the lucky winner who, at the expense of the travel companies, gets an unforgettable experience in the bush of Zimbabwe, an adventure of seven days and six nights to get to know the safari destination pur sang in bird’s eye view.
But… all good comes to an end, so too to this evening. Just after ten and so, the guests were festively waved off by the entire Untamed team to return home with a well-stocked goodiebag.
Na. 50% of the proceeds of the works will benefit the ABC Foundation.
