Fåglarna från OZet (The Birds from OZet)

Oset is located just a short distance from the Norrstjärnan preschool. Every year, large numbers of migratory birds return to Oset and Rynningeviken from Asia, Africa, South America or Southern Europe. The little Arctic tern comes from as far away as Antarctica. In L. Frank Baum’s book and in the musical featuring Judy Garland, Oz is a distant magical land that you can be brought to by a tornado.

In Maria Bajt’s artistic work, it is as if Oset and Oz have merged into one place. Fantastic and undreamed-of migratory birds from this magical place fill the preschool’s hallways. The birds have borrowed features from other animals. A Canadian goose has the head of a giraffe and the common snipe has been given a leopard’s tail. Their silhouettes appear on the walls, covered by colourful patterns that seem to have been modelled from fur and animal skins.

The corridors on each side of the preschool’s cafeteria also form a microcosm or a compass for the bird’s travels from north to south and back again. In the corridor that faces north, the colours are in cool blue hues, while the south-facing corridor is painted in warmer yellow and pink tones. On the floor, an imaginary animal has left its footprint in the form of pallets for humans both big and small to sit on.

The work invites the viewer to marvel, both over the local migratory birds and over the worlds of storytelling. What animals are there in your fantasy world?