Where have all the songbirds gone?
In the North Sea, about 70 kilometres from the German coastline, lies Heligoland. The small Island spans a mere 1.7 km in diameter, with only 1200 inhabitants. Because of the island's remote location, the choice to leave it behind is never taken lightly.
The island was the first place on earth to be the focus of systematic studies on bird migration and serves as a breeding ground of close to 400 bird species. The combination between the island's location and weather conditions causes significant variations in local bird population throughout the year.
The project explores the contrasts and similarities between the migratory people and birds of Heligoland. And focusses on the inevitable choices every islander comes to face.
Pocket Book, 140 x 185mm, 64 pages
Edition of 30 handmade books
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Reflection:
I was looking for an island to visit for quite some time before I came across Helgoland. Curious about the island life as opposed to the 'western' lifestyle I knew, I decided to travel there. In total I spent a month on the island, visiting twice during different seasons. My entire stay was one big field research trying to understand what it's like to grow up and choose to stay on such a small island, and not having the mobility and freedom I was so used to. Essentially I did the same thing with the island's inhabitants, as the ornithologist do with the island's migratory birds. As they have been doing for years. In the end, I found that the different groups of migratory birds also applied to the different groups of people that were staying on the island, all with different reasons, and in different times.
dec22: added 1 picture to selection
