Afghanistan for no. 35/100M and freedom behind bars

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Kabul Afghanistan. I ask each embassy and caretaker of a vessel to take minimum three photos of the vessel in exchange for the “loan” of it for up to half a year. One image where the vessel is displayed most of the time, the second one in the hands of a local and the last image in an environment so you can see the photo is not taken in Tärnaby Sweden.

The message from the Swedish embassy in Kabul Afghanistan:

The security situation is restricting us to move outside the embassy so all images of the vessel are from within the embassy area.

This is also part of the journey, part of the story. And Afghanistan is not the only country with those restrictions. We are allowed to have a Swedish embassy within a country as long as we stay within our “own sphere” and take care of issues relating to our own country. But watch out if we try to talk too loud about human rights and democracy. Like vessel no. 40/100M that was reserved for Belarus – but suddenly (in August 2012) there was no Swedish embassy left in Minsk. Let’s hope we at least get a Swedish diplomat there soon.

Anyway, the 19^th of April 2013 it was the first screening of the Swedish documentary film “No Burqas behind bars – Frihet bakom galler” by Maryam Ebrahimi. The film takes viewers inside one of the worlds most restricted environments: an Afghan prison for women. They live there together in a mini-society, often feeling safer than they did on the outside. Most of them are there because of moral crimes and they have been sentenced to years in prison because they ran away from home, fleeing from their adulterous and abusive husbands. So, for them, more freedom and happiness behind bars and safety within walls.

All part of the world.

PS. In May 2013 we have the election for the Sami Parliament here in Sweden and sometimes I can´t help myself from finding similarities “as long as we stay within our own sphere”… The Sami Parliament is controlled by the Swedish Parliament and the Government through laws, ordinances and appropriation decisions. A mandate to make decisions within frames made by others.

Update about Swedish embassies, Belarus and the journey abroad

Vessel no.40 and the Swedish ambassador is staying at home…

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I got a mail from the Swedish embassy in Minsk Belarus and they wrote that they have to refrain from taking part in this interesting art project due to a number of circumstances. We all know Lukashenko expelled the Swedish ambassador in Belarus in the beginning of August and Sweden’s diplomats can no longer stay in the country. The fear of human rights by Lukashenko reaches new heights, wrote the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt on Twitter shortly after. It is countries like Belarus that really should take part of the story and work of 100 MIGRATORY so I feel sorry this glass vessel no. 40/100M, intended for Belarus, has to stay at home in Sweden. Just like the Swedish ambassador of Belarus…

However, I am happy the embassy in Russia will take care of a vessel, even if the Swedish embassy in Moscow is a closed area for the public.

So 24 Swedish embassies are going to receive a vessel of glass part of 100 MIGRATORY within the next few months – as a loan for up to half a year. Photos from the different countries and embassies will later be part of the final exhibition January – May 2014 at the museum of Västerbotten in Umeå Sweden. Several private persons will also be part of the art project, as a “caretaker” of a vessel  each.

Today I have no. 70 in the Netherlands, no.17 in Norway, no. 41 in Switzerland, no.14 in Spain, no. 56 leaving for Iceland and no. 88 for China. And I’m home in Tärnaby with vessel no.40.