Finishing date: January 2021. Photographed by Natalia Salazar in July 2023.
During my years as a PhD student, before Covid, we were a group from my PhD cohort who got together and played music together. We would arrange jam sessions at parties, re-write lyrics to famous songs and sing for graduated PhDs and a couple of times, we even performed at special events. Often, I was the lead vocalist. In 2023, after a bit more than a year in Bergen, I realized that I really missed getting together with friends and making music together.
In early June 2023, I went to a conference in Berlin. After the conference, I spent the weekend wandering around the neighborhood where my colleague and Berlin host Geronimo lived. I was so inspired, by the liveliness of the environment, people doing artsy things everywhere, playing music and dancing in the parks, dressing in interesting ways, the diversity of street art. I also wanted to take part!
I realize it’s not fair to compare Bergen to Berlin – so much smaller, rainier and dark half of the year, being artsy outdoors is much more of a challenge. But I returned home from that Berlin trip, feeling both inspired and frustrated, and decided I couldn’t wait around for the opportunities to come to me. I needed to learn new skills, to be better at creating my own socially artistic contexts. So, I bought a ukulele.
I taught myself to play it using Youtube. I brought it with me on the Finnish road trip. Picked it up whenever I got the chance. I’m sure Natalia hates “La vie en rose” now, having heard me sing it so many times during that week. Everywhere. All over south-western Finland. Often wearing my purple linen-cotton macro-cable jumper. Luckily, she’s a good sport, and agreed to photograph me anyway, despite the earworm.
Katja Malmborg 