reading between the lines — maytebreed.com

reading between the lines 2025photography and moving image

reading between the lines is an interpretation of the built environment from a female perspective. Inspired by the feminist collective Matrix and their manifesto Making Space: Women and the Man-Made Environment, in which they state that cities are built and designed by and for men, I began to examine my own position within the city. I notice that I am drawn to moments where nature seemed to interrupt or soften the built environment. Moments that feel like acts of care toward their surroundings, such as a branch brushing against a car, pine needles floating in a spiderweb, or a ribbon tied around a marble pedestal.

Sanquin Amsterdam

I visited botanical gardens and city parks, worked in my personal space, with my girlfriend and the objects around me to document and stage such moments. Together, these fragments form an interpretation of how these spaces can feel when time is taken to look beyond the first layer. In this way, the act of noticing, collecting, and staging becomes a proposal for how care, softness, and attention can reshape the spaces we inhabit.

The work was presented this year at two different locations in Amsterdam, Galerie Ron Mandos and Sanquin. Each installation is site-specific and adjusted to the walls, light and ceilings.

Galerie Ron Mandos. Photo by Jonathan de Waart