„To sing there, as in flight,
A repertoire of songs that it has heard
—From other birds, and others of its kind—
Which it has recombined
And made its own“
— from the poem «Patch Work» by Thom Gunn
The installation explores a particular urban element that came about as a result of a misstep/contingency. The narrative which it reveals takes turns into multiple directions: migration, bureaucracy, (lack of) language. A chain of associations interweaves these chapters, following the journey to and from - and is represented through a set of objects, attempts of mute signs to grow pronounced.
I first started noticing bird footprints in concrete while living in Athens - in this specific urban context they seem an accurate analogy to the interaction of a displaced person with bureaucratic structures: a bird descending to the ground, driven by fatigue/hunger, plunges into concrete, where its trace stays.
The imprints were collected using latex and recasted
inside the wooden case, to be turned into stamps.