The Portrait Boxes

Objects. A series of porcelain boxes, each representing a person among my friends or family. Each box is accompanied by a fragment from a letter written by the person to whom that box belongs. Shown at Guldagergaard/ Danish Ceramic Museum and the Ekogallery in Uppsala. With support from IASPIS/ The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, NIFCA/ Nordic Institute For Contemporary Art and Estrid Ericsons Foundation. 2002.

Each box was, when shown, accompanied by a few lines from letters written by the person to whom the box belongs. Below you will find those texts. The Good Bye Box was made as a donation to the International Ceramic Centre where the pieces were made. 
 

Portrait Boxes – The Letters
 

1(Flowers)

Try to bridge the vast gap between realms…news from my side of the gap.                     

 

2 (Feet)

It strikes me often down here, how openly people discuss bad things that has happened to them, and at the same time how much joy and laughter they have inside.

 

3 (Birds)

I feel like there is so much to be said and so many suffering from a fear of speaking.

 

4 (Hands)

I was singing the whole time, thinking about the good things that came about from getting this illness.

 

5 (Fish)

It’s like returning home from a foreign country and suddenly being confronted with the arbitrariness of your way of life. It’s a nice feeling, small moments seem fertile.

 

6 (Roses)

Love is hard to forget, especially the one we experienced. So, I have no one to talk to about my great happiness.

 

7 (Sheets)

You know how it is… we’ve said it so many times before.

 

8 (Heads)

I wish I were able to confront and work through my own story and my own emotions, but I have not yet begun to understand very much about myself.

 

9 (Needles)

The pain in the delight is as present as ever.

 

10 (Chairs)

I did feel very lonely on Sunday night, and had a very needed cry. Even in the pain of tears it feels good to be releasing, it feels like emptying out things I don’t need anymore.

 

11 (Wings)

The day when you dare being rejected by your friends, when you no longer care about what others think but do things for your own joy and development, that day nothing can harm your self.

 

12 (Oars)

Forget any self-reproach, just as I am trying to behave reasonable about mine. We have to move on. It is never to late.

 

13 (Violins)

Now I am by the sea again to let you think and do. Will I get dream-like when time returns?

 

14 (Suitcases)

I know that you’re always carrying yourself with you and that you usually enjoy that, but you are so far away.

 

15 (Tubes)

God how fast time passes
you are just here
and then things happen and happen
it’s good to be in the middle