R e b e c c a
J a n s s o n
Were we birds / Var vi fåglar (2023)
In the fall of 2017, a small bird was sent to fly from Bogotá, Colombia – all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, to me, in Sweden. The bird was sent by my friend Alejandra. She wanted the little bird to have one last flight to me and to colder climate, and to awaken from years of dormant stillness.
Unfortunately, the little bird never arrived.
"2017-11-29
Dearest Rebecca,
I really love the way our conversations emerge, as an echo of the geographical distance between
us (do you believe distance is something that exists in between?). There are many different kinds of distances any way.
I have to tell you that I am more than embarrassed about the mail correspondence. In these three months I went a bunch of times to the post office to ask for what had happened and each time they gave me a different excuse. You’ll see, here in Colombia we have the national post office (the one I used) and many other private companies (most of them foreign and really expensive). Now I gave up on them, but absolutely not on our collaboration.
I believe the bird I sent you never arrived to its destination and never will. As it will remain lost in its way to you, I would like to write these words describing it from my memory. The envelope was white, and it had a blue card in it, with few words, (those I do not remember). Attached to it, was a little stamp with a colombian bird. I believe the bird was green and had a few parts painted in yellow and blue. I do not remember the name of the bird, but I would like to tell you that in Spanish we have two words to refer to this animal: AVE y PÁJARO, (the second one I like the most). I bought this stamp once at the flee market several years ago, and put it in my wallet. I forgot it till the day I was thinking what would be the perfect thing to send you. I really liked the idea of this old static bird having a new flight, migrating to colder places, watching different landscapes, to meet a new friend. Also I think it was beautiful to take this antique technology, the stamp, which is supposed to be outside the envelope, and save it inside as a treasure. But well..
Ale."
"2021-05-03
Dear Alejandra,
Today I was in my studio working for some hours […] I started to think upon a new project and I feltvery happy and inspired. I found a bunch of old postcards recently, all of them with motifs of
airplanes on them. That made me think about our talks about distance. And also, the idea of flying. I remembered the postcard you sent me, with the stamp of the bird that you told me about. I really fell in love with your idea of letting the little bird travel from you in Colombia to me in Sweden, over the big ocean – as if it were flying. It was unfortunate that the postcard never arrived. Who knows where the little bird decided to fly instead?
Along with these thoughts about distance, flying, airplanes and birds I started to think about ’As the crow flies’. The measurement we have to know the shortest way between two spots, using a straight line. Isn’t it beautiful that we have a measurement based on how birds move?
Many hugs, and I hope we can still keep in touch even though it’s been so long.
Rebecca"
Were we birds / Var vi fåglar (Installation view)
Becoming bird
Pencil on paper, mdf, paint on mdf.
Becoming bird (detail)
Pencil on paper, mdf, paint on mdf.
Were we birds / Var vi fåglar (Installation view)
Folded wings
Pencil on paper, paint on wall.
Folded wings (detail)
Pencil on paper, paint on wall.
Were we birds / Var vi fåglar (Installation view)
Border
Pencil on folded paper, paint on pillar.
Border (detail)
Pencil on folded paper, paint on pillar.
As if becoming were ever fixed (detail)
Pencil on paper, paint on wall.
As if becoming were ever fixed
Pencil on paper, paint on wall.
As if becoming were ever fixed (detail)
Pencil on paper, paint on wall.
As if becoming were ever fixed (detail)
Pencil on paper, paint on wall.
Do you believe distance is something that exists in between? (Letter from Alejandra, letter to Alejandra) (detail)
Printed text fragments.
Obedience to gravity
Pencil on paper, paint on wall.
Obedience to gravity (detail)
Pencil on paper, paint on wall.
On longing (detail)
Pencil on paper, painted mdf, glass, paint on wall.
On longing (detail)
Pencil on paper, painted mdf, glass, paint on wall.
A bird's-eye view (detail)
Pencil on paper, paint on wall.
The ocean has no straight lines (detail)
Pencil on paper, paint on wall.
The ocean has no straight lines (detail)
Pencil on paper, paint on wall.
Were we birds / Var vi fåglar (Installation view)
Winged Migration (h, m, n, r, s, u, v, w, z) (detail)
Pencil on paper (9 drawings, 70x100 cm each). Letters traced from a handwritten letter sent by Alejandra to Rebecca. The letters chosen for the drawings are the ones that visually resemble birds.
Winged Migration (h, m, n, r, s, u, v, w, z) (detail)
Pencil on paper (9 drawings, 70x100 cm each). Letters traced from a handwritten letter sent by Alejandra to Rebecca. The letters chosen for the drawings are the ones that visually resemble birds.
Embrace
Pencil on paper, paint on pillar.
Embrace (detail)
Pencil on paper, paint on pillar.
I believe the bird was green with a few parts painted in yellow and blue
Pencil on paper. In 2021 I came across 16 colombian bird stamps from a seller in the United States. I bought the stamps, which then flew over the Atlantic Ocean, making the long journey to me in Sweden. Based on Alejandra’s description of the lost bird’s colors, I could see that some of them could potentially be the same kind as the one who disappeared. But Alejandra couldn’t confirm whether it was the same bird or not, since she couldn’t fully remember what it looked like. Instead I decided to translate all the stamps into pencil on paper drawings – to erase all colors – making all of the birds have the potential to be, as well as not to be, the same as the one bird who disappeared.
I believe the bird was green with a few parts painted in yellow and blue (details)
Pencil on paper. In 2021 I came across 16 colombian bird stamps from a seller in the United States. I bought the stamps, which then flew over the Atlantic Ocean, making the long journey to me in Sweden. Based on Alejandra’s description of the lost bird’s colors, I could see that some of them could potentially be the same kind as the one who disappeared. But Alejandra couldn’t confirm whether it was the same bird or not, since she couldn’t fully remember what it looked like. Instead I decided to translate all the stamps into pencil on paper drawings – to erase all colors – making all of the birds have the potential to be, as well as not to be, the same as the one bird who disappeared.
The exhibition Were we birds / Var vi fåglar was rooted in this event of the lost Colombian bird.
The thought of sending the bird on this journey emerged as a joint idea between Alejandra and I, where we wanted to display the physical distance between us, between Sweden and Colombia, with a whole ocean between our two bodies. Through our mail correspondence, which is our method of communication, we had many conversations about distance. We soon decided to send each other a small object in the mail. Something that would travel the entire physical distance between us, that we could not travel ourselves.
To Alejandra I sent a small stone which had the capacity to, through association, become a mountain. And to me Alejandra sent the stamp with the little bird that never made it here.
In the mail correspondence between Alejandra and I, we talked about and touched upon topics of identity, geography, borders, distance and memory. What ultimately came of these talks was a conversation about the human desire to, and conflicted feelings of, wanting to leave one’s country.
Distance can be thought of in terms of geography. You can observe on a map, an entire ocean between Sweden and Colombia. You can also see a multitude of national borders between the two, and it is possible to calculate the distance between Malmö and Bogotá in kilometers. We proceed from our own world map when we think about the world, there are however, parallel maps of our world that exists concurrently with the map we are used to, and know. One example is the birds’ map of the world, that is, the map based on the movement paths of birds around our globe.
A huge thank you to:
Alejandra Bonilla Restrepo
Photos: Youngjae Lih