Temporary Views

Diana Takacsova

2017 – 2025 — Belgium

About this series

Temporary Views reflects on the processes and effects of human development and climate change adaptation efforts while creating a multi-layered project on how people and nature influence each other on what is now one of Europe’s most unique – and vulnerable coastlines. No area in Belgium has undergone an as continuous regeneration process as the North Sea coast, which plays an important role in the country‘s cultural, social, and economic realities.
A considerably compact space for Belgium’s 11.5 million inhabitants, the 67-kilometre coastline is vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to its position below sea level, dense built-up environment and intensive use.
It is a story of constant building, demolishing and rebuilding in a quest to conquer nature’s forces, addressing expectations of what a coast is, and sculpting the coastline amidst erosion. Throughout this transformation, some testimonies of the past are kept – others become a memory. A space of experiencing nature, a venue of dramatic sceneries and summer memories – a place of belonging, or a disappointing result of liberal building policies: all of this has been said about this stretch of land and sea. But what will it become?

Photographer: Diana Takacsova
Nationality: Slovak
Based in: Belgium – Slovakia
Website: www.diatakacsova.com
Instagram: @diatakacsova

Diana Takacsova is a research-driven photographer whose work revolves around questions of identity, physical and emotional connection to place, migration, and the human relationship to nature, and environment, particularly examining their intersection with power structures. Her projects often take place in perceived – or constructed peripheries.
Diana is a National Geographic Society and Pulitzer Center grantee, and a member of Women Photograph. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic Magazine, The Guardian, BBC, Courrier International, GEO, and New Lines Magazine, among others – and it was exhibited across Europe. She is currently based between Belgium and Slovakia – but feels at home in motion.