Photo by Sebastian Leon Prado
My work as an artist has led me to be an experienced collector of ephemeral things. This month I launched a new sculpture featuring a flock of starling birds called Murmuration, in a fleeting moment captured permanently in stainless steel as they swoop through the O’Donoghue Centre Theatre at University of Galway, Ireland. Hanging each bird by hand took me back to one of my earliest collections - paper aeroplanes.
In my early career as an artist I collected paper aeroplanes I found on the street. Then I began seeking for planes which had messages written on them - perhaps childish scribbles, personal hopes or shy love declarations.
In 2017 I launched the platform Human Archive Project and have since gathered thousands of stories, which in a way is the same kind of collection in a larger, digital format - these messages are still like the words I found on those precious planes that someone had taken the time to write on. They are still anonymous, they are written spontaneously in the moment, launched into the ether and then left to fate. I felt that the making and launch of a paper plane was impromptu, it was not expected to be read or received, it is the act of having a thought, and sending it soaring - perhaps admitting something to yourself in that moment, or releasing a worry or locked away thing from your mind. Children of course are much better at this than adults.
My research since then has resulted in archives consisting of stories, secrets, testimonies, bird song recordings, confessions, memories, sound recordings from inside religious spaces all over the world, and spoken word. However, I rarely add another paper plane.
What happened to all the paper aeroplanes? I still look for them but I rarely find them. Perhaps it is the places I visit, but more likely it is the fact that we all take more care to pick up our litter. I am happy for the environment and hope that this is a good sign for the earth. (Having gone on a trash collecting mission along my local river last week I can tell you that not everyone is picking up their waste) But I wonder, what has replaced the paper aeroplane? Perhaps it has been usurped by the facebook post or the anonymous blog commenter?
As a look-back to the past, I am posting below something from many years ago when I was interviewed about my paper plane collection by editor Rae Hippolyte for Callaby magazine.
Read the full interview here.
