ISLAMABAD: The Netherlands Embassy has planted a tulip garden at the Fatima Jinnah Park to commemorate 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The opening of the garden was accompanied by a photography exhibition, After Us The Deluge, featuring the work of renowned Dutch photographer Kadir van Lohuizen.

Sina Koocheki, the curator, said: “It is a beautiful day and it is the first day of the exhibition for which we had the pleasure to work with the Netherlands Embassy and one of the leading photographers of the Netherlands and his team. The idea was very simple but gradually it became very complicated. We had thought to keep it very minimalistic and keep the fences as backgrounds but the fences could not be levelled or aligned. We had to revise the plan four times but in the end it became quite attractive because you can see through the fences and the photographs seem to be suspended in the air.”

Many parts of Pakistan were hit by the devastating floods last year, and Lohuizen’s work shows the impact of rising sea levels on communities around the world and presents a stark contrast to the colourful tulips.

The award-winning photographer has photographed various conflicts around the world, but is probably best known for his long-term projects on the seven world rivers, the consequences of rising sea levels, the diamond industry, migration in the Americas and how six mega-cities deal with waste.

Ambassador Henny de Vries expressed his excitement at bringing the blooming national flower of the Netherlands to F-9 Park.

He also expressed his gratitude to the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Capital Development Authority for making both the garden and exhibition possible.

The past year was a difficult year for Pakistan with economic challenges and catastrophic floods. With a third of the country submerged in water, the Netherlands provided financial assistance and technical support in flood-mitigating measures to Pakistan.

Dutch expertise in flood mitigation and management comes from experience and the exhibition featured a poster from Pakistan circa 1953 advertising the Netherlands Flood Relief Efforts.

In 1953, the dikes in the Dutch province of Zeeland breached and almost 2,000 people lost their lives and 100,000 lost their homes as 4,500 houses and other buildings were destroyed.

Governor General Ghulam Mohammed immediately sent a message of sympathy and Pakistan sent help too.

Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed the country’s deep gratitude saying: “I need hardly tell you how much the Dutch value this sympathetic gift and how deeply we are touched by the devotion with which the packages were wrapped.”

The Great Flood prompted the Dutch to embark on their now world-famous Delta Project: a huge system of flood defences consisting of 14 large dams and barriers. The final barrier was completed in 1986.

The photographs investigate the human consequences of the rising sea level. Due to the climate crisis, glaciers all over the world are retreating and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are melting at an alarming pace. After Us The Deluge provides visual coverage of how climate change is already affecting places where people live, Greenland with its melting glaciers, Kiribati, Fiji, the Carteret islands in Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, Jakarta, the Marshall Islands, the Netherlands and the United States.

The exhibition also includes a photograph by Manoj Kumar Genani, Pakistani freelance feature story writer and documentary photographer based in Sindh – and the winner of Water is Life Photo Competition 2022.

Greenworks Pakistan, a Floriculture consultant and seed supplier, was contracted to hold the tulip garden show. A horticulturist from Greenworks arranged, designed and planted the tulip flowers along with other seasonal delights and trained CDA technical staff in maintaining the flowers.

The Netherlands exports approximately 2 billion tulips worldwide annually and a small selection of tulip varieties are on display, including Darwin Hybrids, Triumph and Parrot amongst others in vibrant pink, red, yellow, orange and purple hues.

Fareed Raees said, “I came to see the tulips and the exhibition. The photographs are eye opening as they show how the rising waters are affecting the lives of people.”

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2023