"Footprints on the Galaxy" Installation (2006)

Landscape character

I have always felt provincial, ever since my decision as a youth to leave the countryside for the city, only to later return after realizing that I sought something that I couldn't find in the city streets, cafes, shops, theatres or bars. I chose the countryside close to the city. That way I can today observe city life if I need to or want to, from the outside as well as from within.

I love being a bit outside of the mainstream, doing things in my own time but still being able to observe the flow of the stream, like a dog that sleeps when it wants to but with only one eye at a time. I love being able to plunge into the stream, and jump out again when I need the peace and quiet to think, set my own guidelines, and make my own decisions.

Some people charge ahead of the stream without understanding it themselves; universal thoughts come more easily when you're lying in the grass staring at the blue skies, totally unaware that somewhere out there some commercial power has come up with an idea identical to the one you just had, causing millions of people to launch similar projects. By keeping a certain distance to the central hub, you control your own rhythm and have greater opportunity to observe and enjoy the important and wonderful things in life.

It seems incredible that people can feel lonely on the crowded city streets. One would think these people are isolated, that there is a disconnect between the external and the internal, and this is exactly the misconception of isolation that is often associated with the word provincial. Many centuries have gone since the Romans ruled their far-away provinces from the capital of Rome. Today, provincialists need to embrace a particular kind of freedom where they can use modern technology to plug directly into the mainstream, but also choose to step aside from it. I need this distance to view my own work among others. It is important for me to be able to take my work out of its original context and see it from a new perspective.

- Thordis Alda Sigurdardottir