ROSA MAAS
born 2002, Helmond, Netherlands 

Rosa Maas is a visual artist with a deep fascination for the internet: the approximately 3.2 billion photos uploaded every day, the endless media landscape and its images that keep circling around and get intensified in a sea of real and fake
It is in this paradox where Rosa places herself as an artist. Rosa’s work often begins with an image that she finds online and stays with her: the photograph of our Earth taken from the Apollo 8, a selfie in front of the Mona Lisa, the image of a beach with a palm tree, two chairs in the middle and the sea in the distance in a holiday brochure. In her projects, Rosa adopts an investigative approach. She combines a humorous with a critical tone by engaging with these images in an often ironic manner. In doing so, she touches on geopolitical themes such as tourism, cartography and social power structures, posing questions about life in our current society, how we navigate it, how we shape it and who decides how it gets shaped.


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BEACHES CONTRUCTED WITH ILLEGALLY IMPORTED SAND FROM THE WESTERN SAHARA2024-ongoing



Beaches Contructed With Illegally Imported Sand from the Western Sahara, on view at the Rundgang 2025, HfG Karlsruhe, Germany from 24-27/07/2025
The Playa de las Teresitas, Playa de Tauro, Puerto de Mogán and Playa del Camisón are considered some of the most picturesque and Instagram-worthy beaches on the Canary Islands. Their appeal lies largely in their golden sand, which visually contrasts with the islands’ natural volcanic coastlines. 

The construction of these beaches is however largely controversial and embedded in a complex and ethically problematic history, as the sand used to construct these beaches has been imported from the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony occupied by Morocco since 1975. Despite multiple rulings banning the import of natural resources from the Western Sahara, tons of sand continue to arrive without consent from the local Saharawi population.

In response to this issue, I started collecting images from social media, where these beaches are largely advertised and praised for their golden sand. Editing them by adding the text ‘This beach was contructed with illegally imported sand from the western sahara’, I try to show the controversy of these beaches.

- UV Inkjet prints on glass














































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