bird/woman

This piece was created as part of the invitation by researcher and artist Katja Hilevaara to her wonderful Ridge Salon

"For the Salons, I curate a selection of participants, each with a specific expertise pertinent to the topic of conversation, and we will gather around my table for an evening of food and discussion." (K, Hilevaara, 2025)

As a response to the Ridge Salon, I created a score of images/text, printed on postcard size cards, which where read by the participants at the table.

"The image (from one of the prompts) of someone buried with a bird in their mouth suggested to me a certain kind of intimacy, which became the starting point for this score. In it, I tentatively reference imaginary listening; bird/human transformations (I thought of the movie ‘Howls Moving Castle’); dan-mei literature in particular when centered on shapeshifting entities, changing from human to animal and back; relations with Donna Haraway’s more-than-human kin. All, I imagine,  accessed through a queer listening – a listening beyond, underneath and past the heteronormative din of the everyday."