I was inspired to make this artwork in response to Brunhilde Hofacker’s third migration experience, when she moved from Germany to Switzerland.
During our conversations, I asked Bruni to assign a color to each phase of her life. Blue for her childhood, no color for the time spent without family in West Germany, rose for her adulthood, and green for Zürich. Therefore the title of this artwork is Together into the Green. I chose to portray her story using natural materials because she has an extensive knowledge of the world of plants and her garden in Germany had over 30 rose bushes. Botanical materials also symbolize the transience of life.
The walking stick is a mobile family tree that she can bring with her, not looking back because she knows that she carries all the memories of her family with her to her new home in Zürich. There are 12 strands of twine wrapped with dried rose petals, representing her parents and siblings. Bruni's own daughter and her 17 nieces and nephews are included as individual rose buds attached to their parent's strand. Yellow for the men and pink and purple for the women. I hope that this artwork conveys Bruni's positive outlook on life.
Special thanks to Brunhilde Hofacker for sharing her migration stories with me and to ExpoTransKultur for entrusting me with this commission as part of the project Found in Translation 2023.
You can listen to Bruni’s migration story here.
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