Aska
the song of the cranes
Online gallery in Mantle meadow
original ink drawings
Original ink drawings from the series "Aska".
The drawings are made from home made charcoal and ash ink
on bamboo paper (265gsm), giving the cranes a true, natural body.
A body of wood transformed by fire.
The fires dried the drawings and gave ashes and charcoal.
The paintings are completely natural, environmentally friendly,
even compostable after their life.
The drawings are all created from experiences I gathered
being with common cranes, living in a summer breeding area.
After a long way migrating north
The cranes came home
In their summer breeding area
In early spring
When the snow had only partly left the land
Cranes are amongst the earliest arrivers
Here up north
They fly in big flocks
And stay in large groups to rest and forage
For quite some time
After they have arrived
Before they will go
to their nesting places two on two
It is about this precious time
between arrival and settling for breeding
"Aska" wants to sing.
Ashes (aska) contain both death and rebirth. A substance of purification.
Cranes too are symbol of immortality, of the continuation of life.
In mythology cranes are depicted to be rebirthed humans.
Every evening
When the sun has almost set
Cranes gather and fly
To their sleeping grounds
while singing, a trumpeting chorus
Their call can be heared from afar
Long after sunset
Their chatting voices echo
As they sing theirselves asleep
