Swedish / Sweden
Fågeln i mig flyger vart den vill
(The bird in me flies wherever it wants)
Lundberg, Sara
(text/illus.)
Sundqvist, Alexandra
(postface)
Stockholm: Mirando Bok, [2017]. – [124] p.
ISBN 978-91-983303-3-5
History 19th - 20th century | Painting | Female artist | Emancipation | Biography
Reading age: 10+
White Ravens issue: 2018
„Husmor. Husmördrar. Pappa vil att vi blir det – Julia, Gunna och jag – för så har det alltid varit och så är det bestämt.” (Housewife. Housewives. Papa wants us – Julia, Gunna and me – to become that, because that’s how it’s always been, and that’s how things are planned out). Berta lets the pea soup burn, as she dreams of another life. She draws and makes clay models, but what use is that – on a farmhouse in northern Sweden? The family doctor recognizes Berta’s talent and encourages her to tell her father she wants to be something other than a housewife. Sara Lundberg’s book is a homage to Swedish artist Berta Hansson (1910-1994), known for her tapestries and glass windows. Using direct language and colourful, vivid pictures echoing Berta Hansson’s art, she portrays a young woman who, born at the start of the 20th century, breaks with societal convention, and trusts herself to go her own way – a way that was no more than a vague outline at the start.