Sam Thys (Antwerp, 1996) is a visual artist and recent graduate with a Master’s degree in Visual Arts. Their practice explores the intersection of art, ecology, and living matter. What began as a passion for photography has developed into a deeper investigation of our relationship with the natural world—focusing in particular on algae as both material and collaborator.

Thys is drawn to algae for its ecological significance, visual richness, and its capacity to challenge conventional ideas about art, life, and sustainability. In their work, algae are not treated as passive material but as active agents—living organisms that grow, change, and decay. This organic unpredictability is embraced as part of the artistic process. The resulting installations function as living systems, constantly evolving and requiring care, attention, and a surrender of control.

Their approach is rooted in the themes of impermanence, fragility, and ecological entanglement. Rather than producing art about nature, Thys creates art with nature—inviting reflection on authorship, responsibility, and the potential for co-creation with more-than-human life.

Through sensory, time-based experiences, Thys creates spaces for slowing down, for wonder, and for reconnection. In the face of ecological crisis, their work proposes that art can open up new ways of seeing, feeling, and being in the world—not by providing answers, but by reimagining how we relate to the living systems around us.

@sam._.thys