On October 4, 1982 for the first time in his life, Hans Waanders (1951-2001) saw a kingfisher (Alcedo atthis ), along the Meuse river near his hometown of 's- Hertogenbosch. This image has never since left him. From that moment on he started collecting almost obsessively, all possible information about this somewhat shy and solitary bird. And to make it his own, he translated this information into images. Not only pictures of the kingfisher, but also sounds, movements , prey animals and enemies, as well as its names in various languages, Hans Waanders gave a visual form. He visited the places where kingfishers occur in various countries and marked the boundaries of their territory. Waanders set out to organize the world on the basis of material on the kingfisher For Hans Waanders the kingfisher was a metaphor for the life of the artist: living on the boundary of existence, aloof and with exotic features.
Hans Waanders used numerous techniques: written texts, crayon , collages and silkscreen, but mostly in watercolors and stamps he carved from erasers Over the years, he published has a hundred artists' book, which he usually printed and bound himself in a limited edition of no more than 20 pieces. Especially abroad, there is much interest in Waander ' artists' books; they were purchased e.g. by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.