In September 2017 Marjan Laaper was invited to Datong city in Shanxi, China.

She saw some of Datong’s historical heritage, people and the current city.

During her trip she read about Taoism, which is widely merged in Chinese thinking

and history. Taoism emphasizes living in harmony with nature, a philosophical

system about how to keep human behaviour in accordance with the alternating

cycles of nature. In ancient Taoist texts water is often mentioned for its yielding

and reflective nature. The impressions of Datong caught during her short trip and

the texts she read were the starting point for the new work: “Collecting dewdrops

from Datong”. The work shows six dewdrops that reflect “moments in time”.

People, Buddhist sculpture’s from historical times, and high building in Datong

can be seen in the reflections of the small dewdrops she photographed and

collected. Laaper wanted to connect the relation between humankind and nature

just as Taoism does.