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| Photo from Borås Tidning (local newspaper) |
On Thursday I read in my local news app that a group of people had been making a climate-related protest by tying red scarves around a number of sculptures in the city. So on Friday I decided to go for a walk downtown to see if I could find some of those.
The only statue I actually found (still) wearing a red scarf was this one, though:
Sculpture Ute (= Outdoors) by Charlotte Gyllenhammar.
The Non-Violence sculpture by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd (cf the newspaper photo) was no longer wearing a read scarf when I got there. Whether it was removed by someone protesting against the protest, or someone not having heard/read about the protest (so failing to understand what it was about), or someone perhaps just feeling a bit cold and in need of a red knitted scarf, I'll probably never know...
The Non-Violence sculpture stands in Anna Lindh's Park. Anna Lindh was a Swedish politican (for the Social Democratic party) who was tragically assasinated in Stockholm in September 2003. She was Minister for Foreign Affairs since 1998, and before that she had also served as Minister for the Environment for four years.
This sculpture was not wearing a scarf, but looked to me like it could have needed one. I was a bit surprised to find it where I did, as last time I saw it, it was somewhere else - and before that, originally, it used to stand outside the Art Museum. I had also forgotten its name, but managed to (re-)find it by googling. It's called Fauna, by Tilda Lovell (2010).
A more encouraging find on my walk was the first cherry blossoms on a tree opposite the old church in the city centre.
On my way back home, I found wood anemones and daffodils growing along the river.
The red scarves add a touch of colour. I like 'Ute,' but 'Fauna' has me foxed.
ReplyDeleteLovely wild flowers by the river. They're so uplifting.
Janice, you're far from alone in how you feel about those two sculptures! ('Ute' is by far one of our most popular ones - loved by both children and adults...)
DeleteFlowers, whether on trees or on the ground, are so good for the soul, aren‘t they!
ReplyDeleteI didn‘t know that red scarves are a symbol of protest.
Meike, neither did I. Had I not happened to read that article, I wouldn't have had a clue that the red scarf symbolised anything at all...
Deletethe stump and the water and the tree and the church are tied for my favorite today. beautiful... Fauna is not to my taste.. those blue flowers are gorgeous
ReplyDeleteSandra, the two-legged dog doesn't really "speak" to me either.
DeleteThe blue flowers are gorgeous! So, this protest...what do they want the government to do to help with the environment?
ReplyDeleteGinny, I had no idea, but after a bit of research it seems to be to do with "urging politicians to honour a commitment to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels". Apparently there was a much bigger red scarf demonstration in Stockholm a year ago (April 2024) that somehow I totally missed. (The scarves all each 1.5 m long, I think.)
DeleteThe flowers are blossoming everywhere
ReplyDeleteThey certainly are now, Ro.
DeleteLovely flowers. It looks like you are enjoying the beautiful blue sky like we are.
ReplyDeleteWe were on that day, at least! (Just now back to cloudy.)
DeleteWhat a glorious spring you're having! The flowers are lovely. I've not heard of the red scarf as a climate protest either, but I like the "Ute" statue in her red scarf.
ReplyDeleteCarol, the newspaper article said all remaining scarves were to be taken down on Sunday, so I suppose Ute too is back to her usual appearance by now. (I haven't been back to check, yet.)
DeleteI like the Non-Violence sculpture by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd. It is very depressing to think of all the violence that happens in our world - the guns, the bombs, the fists, the words. As John Lennon and Yoko Ono sang back in 1969, "Give Peace A Chance!"
ReplyDeleteYP, the original Non-Violence sculpture (also known as the Knotted Gun) was created in memory of the death of John Lennon, and stands at the UN headquarters in NY. The one here in Borås is one of around 30 replicas around the world (about half of them in Sweden). Back in my youth, the peace movement and was strong here. Now "rearmament" is frequently mentioned in the news, and conscription is being reinstated.
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