PROCESSION OF MOURNING

I was chosen to participate in a residency in Trollhättan called På väg 45 (a collaboration between the art halls in Åmål, Vänersborg and Trollhättan). For a month, with workshops, talks and seminar, I prepared the procession which happened on a Thursday in May. For one hour we walked through the town towards the Art Hall where we had dinner in silence, interrupted by one of the singers and then finished in conversation.

It was a performance through the city of Trollhättan about our losses in life and the need to take gentle care of our sorrow.  I wrote this text in my presentation :

“I always feel a need for mourning. The loss of the images I have of how life was supposed to progress. All that is not becoming the way I wanted. I don’t think I am the only one grieving and I feel that maybe the things that are sad will be less sad when shared. This is why I want to walk together with people in a procession of mourning through the city of Trollhättan. To walk side by side grieving. I have been thinking a lot about the pandemic years and all the funerals that got cancelled and all the goodbyes never expressed. But everyone is free to think about what they need to.”

The two singers were Sara Kaltenbach and Sofia Grönlund. 

Photos by Elin Flognman, Åsa Johansson, Peter Hagsér