The Girl and the Bird
A sculpture-story about encountering death. Country and Urban Lappeenranta 2001; Artemisia gallery, Chicago, Galérie Régine Lussan, Paris; Institut Finlandais, Paris



Andersson has worked on this sculpture since 1996, slowly changing it for each of the new exhibitions it has been shown in. At the same time he has been working with his feelings for his friend, who committed suicide in 1996. The girl, a plaster cast of Andersson's daughter Li, is just about to bury a bird. Andersson saw his daughter bury a bird in real life and remembered himself doing the same thing when he was a child.

The bird on the sculpture has a heart made of 200 strings of fiber optics which slowly changes colours through the whole spectrum. All the surfaces are made of computer manipulated pictures from finnish nature, which are transferred to aluminum foil.
The version above is the latest one, with a new tree, computer cut in aluminum. The tree is a homage to art nouveau and ornamental patterns. A story is a part of the sculpture. The story can be read either on a print in the exhibition or on the Internet below.

The Story
Dedicated to my friend Henry, who decided that life was no longer worth living.

pictures (12)