Esther Hovers

Works

سور المعڭازين / The Lazy Wall

GALLERY

‬Thursday afternoon, May 14th, 2026, Tangier.
Aquarel on yellow (Canson) paper, 50 x 32,5 cm / 19.7 x 12.8 inch.

‬Thursday evening, May 29th, 2026, Tangier.
Aquarel on (Canson) paper, 25 x 16 cm / 9.8 x 6.3 inch.

‬Monday afternoon, June 1st, 2026, Tangier.
Aquarel on (Canson) paper, 32,5 x 25 cm / 12.8 x 9.8 inch.

‬Monday afternoon, June 1st, 2026, Tangier.
Aquarel on (Canson) paper, 32,5 x 25 cm / 12.8 x 9.8 inch.

Monday afternoon, June 15th, 2026, Tangier.
Aquarel on (Canson) paper, 32,5 x 25 cm / 12.8 x 9.8 inch.

Monday afternoon, June 15th, 2026, Tangier.
Aquarel on (Canson) paper, 25,5 x 20,5 cm / 10 x 8 inch.

‬Tuesday afternoon, June 16th, 2026, Tangier.
Aquarel on (Canson) paper, 25 x 16 cm / 9.8 x 6.3 inch.

Monday afternoon, June 15th, 2026, Tangier.
Aquarel on (Canson) paper, 32,5 x 25 cm / 12.8 x 9.8 inch.

Monday afternoon, June 15th, 2026, Tangier.
Aquarel on (Canson) paper, 32,5 x 25 cm / 12.8 x 9.8 inch.

Monday afternoon, June 15th, 2026, Tangier.
Aquarel on (Canson) paper, 25,5 x 20,5 cm / 10 x 8 inch.

Friday evening, June 26th, 2026, Tangier.
Acrylic paint on the wall of Tanger Print Club, 24 x 8 cm / 12.8 x 9.8 inch.

Friday evening, June 26th, 2026, Tangier.
Acrylic paint on the wall of Tanger Print Club, 24 x 8 cm / 12.8 x 9.8 inch.

SYNOPSIS

As a Dutch woman I am used to seeing hostile architecture* and cities forcing out homeless people in the run up to olympic games (1).
Through my work I have been thinking about the politics of space (‘False Positives’ and more recently ‘Trompe l’œil’).
What constitutes a ‘public’ space? What layers of control and politics exist? Leaving us to question how public it actually is.
How do we inhabit increasingly ‘smart cities’* and how might slowness and craft function as a counter movement?
It is through this lens that I was so touched to encounter
سور المعڭازين (The Lazy wall / Le mur des paresseux) during my residency in Tangier.

This terrassed square is located just around the corner from where I had been staying and I would pass by it a few times a day.
Overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar – with Spain at its horizon – the view is an actual border between Europe and Africa. People come to hang out, chat, look at the water or simply ‘to be’.
I admire this designated space for nothingness. A similar place in Holland would be quite unthinkable. The square teaches a lesson in doing nothing to those willing to learn. It has been a profound reminder of slowness in a world obsessed with speed. Rather than my camera I have taken up my brush to study the art of laziness.
If ‘lazy’ sounds like an insult to you, perhaps it is time to ask yourself ‘why?’ Not hostile architecture but hospitable architecture – my watercolors as an ode to slowness.

1 - Megan Janetsky, AP News, July 25th, 2024, ‘Migrants and homeless people are cleared out of Paris during the Olympics’.

* Hostile architecture is urban design that actively restricts certain behavior in public space.

* A smart city is an urban environment in which digital technology collects data aimed at efficiency and optimisation.
This work was created during a residency at Think Tanger, supported by Mondriaan Fund. Mondriaan Fund is the incentive fund for the visual arts and heritage sector in the Netherlands.

MATERIALS

A growing series of paintings.
Watercolor on paper,
Variable sizes.

RELATED WORKS

سور المعڭازين during Think Tanger residency, Tangier (MA), 2026 , Water color on paper, Dimensions Variable.

WORKS – The Lazy Wall / سور المعڭازين

2026