For Sini
Go out in a forest
be still and close to the ground.
Then you start to see all the small beauty
things around you.
To be still and close to the ground
in beauty -isn´t that a perfect way
to keep your balance?
Sometimes
when you are so close
and so still
you might hear
mother Earth breathe
around you
and in you.
From Exhibitions
“Different actions
to claim the right to a sustainable future
and directly protect life
become a way to take responsibility for democracy
and to make the real threats to our survival
both acknowledged and in the long run diminished.”
“My own view of nature is the one
that sees the human being as a part of nature.
We are included in the cycles we share with other life on Earth.
We live off and with this life.
The human being has the possibility to take responsibility for the whole, which puts her as a species in a special position and thereby singles her out from all other life on the planet.
This special position also obliges her to be responsible for the good of the entirety.”
“Learning is best achieved through personal experiences in nature. These are necessary to develop a deep sense for nature.
The human being is a biological creature that lives off and in different dependencies with other life on Earth.
To get in touch with this deep human sense of dependency and belonging provides a base for deepened joy of life and environmental engagement.”
How does the inside become one with the outside?
I love life and life thrives on Earth.
In the soil, in the seas.
Every morning, many get a kiss,
a hug and a wish for the day to turn out well.
With that, many leave for work.
On foot, by bicycle, by car, by train, by subway,
by bus and by tram.
That is how the world is built to become
a bit more beautiful, a bit warmer, a bit stronger,
because people carry and generously share love.
There is green and blue on our planet.
I love the diversity of life and beauty that Earth
displays,
tells about.
All conditions for life,
all conditions
for my life.
I fill with love
when I see all the existing beauty.
That grows.
That whispers.
That flies.
That roars.
Like the lust in your eyes.
But much is threatened.
There is a lot that hurts
just to see, to understand, to take in.
I want to be there with all of me.
Stop devastation, stop emissions.
With others who want the same.
Without compromise – because a limit has been reached.
Words are not enough now.
I want to be there with my body and say no.
I want to bear testimony – stand with a straight back and speak the truth.
I think I need to put up a fight
to preserve my humanity.
To suffer from what hurts
is also to give space to anger and grief.
I can’t get away, but I can get through.
And when I stand up for life through action
I keep apathy from gaining foothold in me.
When my values match my actions
I become strong.
To stand up for life is also to resist.
To keep my human freshness, my dignity and self-respect
– simply to be human.
It is obvious that when I stand up for life I become stronger.
Because to stand up for life is to become more alive.
Fear receives less space
and so, there is more space for love to grow.
This beautiful word, “humanity”.
What gives meaning? Who do I want to be?
To seek beauty and take it in, carry it in my heart.
To respect life, to nurture it, to preserve it, to protect it.
I want to be one who comforts, embraces, plants seeds,
gives generously, inspires, develops, builds,
and hopes.
Caught by feathers
I felt a joy in the air,
but could not really say where it came from.
I came to a halt in my garden, looked up and realised it was the cries of the swifts that had made me stop. A few days later I wrote:
“I got caught by the swifts’ calls from the sky.
Remained standing barefoot in the grass,
now the young are trained in the elite class of flying.
They resembled children running down the steps of the school building in June
toward infinity.”
As a nature educator, I have often worked with birds, together with children and adults. Together we have explored and been fascinated by their life around us. What do they eat? Why do they sing? How do they build their nests? Why do the eggs have this colour? How do they migrate? Why do they have territories?
We have also been fascinated by their movements across the globe. The birds cry to me: “Join us for an adventure – if you can!” The birdsong is so beautiful and makes me feel that winter is over. The birdsong is, to me, also the reassurance of recurrence, the hope for rebirth of life, in a country with seasons. Maybe the birdsong tells us, deep in our biological memory, that tranquillity prevails – at least right then, in the moment of song?
Two years in art school taught me something about materials and work processes. It stimulated me to change tempo and to develop my seeing: to draw, see colour and shape.
When I work as an artist I am challenged to develop my patience. Creating is often a necessarily slow process for me and I struggle a bit with that. I can reflect around the concrete results – when I prioritise doing so: why did things turn out this way? What was the process that brought good results? If I would know…
Large feathers are a slow process.
My fascination for birds gives me power and develops my understanding for the living. The birds’ feathers are beauty, lightness and strength. Their colour, shape and pattern are also a story of how they live. To make big feathers is an exploration and a deep joy that currently unite and summarise much of my professional life. I wish that man more often could place himself in the right proportion to the environment, to all other life, to the cycles. That the green life thrives on Earth, that the water is clean. Otherwise, in fact, we don’t thrive either!
Those who are aware of this dependency and still act short-sightedly spark my fury.
Those who consider economic growth for the needs of all people, within the planetary boundaries, give nourishment and energy to my joy of life. Those who think like that are increasing in number.
I want to change the perspective of our life and our existence so that we can understand ourselves better.
I want to enlarge beauty. That is why I make BIG feathers.
The Swedish writer Ylva Eggehorn wrote:
“When we don’t have the strength, the birdsong will carry us”.
To me, the birds are a highly palpable life force and I am carried by their beauty.