Distance

Distance is a looped sound installation in which I speak in Swedish without actually knowing the language. The speech was well rehearsed and edited in the attempt to speak as accurately as possible. The goal was to speak in the language of my grandfather’s side of the family, to fulfill the desires of my great-grandmother as recorded in the writing on the back of an old photograph of my great-grandmother “... this is a photo of your grandfather, Harry's Mather, she would love to hear you talking in Swedish...” , this text was written by my grandmother and the photo was given to me at my arrival to Sweden.

The text that I read in Swedish is the story of how Harry's mother loses track of Harry during his lengthy emigration journey and his initial years in Peru, only finding him using the services of Interpol after a number of years had passed. Presented as in installation,the work was shown in a basic environment with a 2x2 m concrete pond echoing the sound of the voice.