Bones

Skulls, bones, and antlers are difficult to find. Sometimes you are lucky enough to discover them in the forest or deep in wild places, usually far from people. Wild animals are not very present anymore, at least not here in Denmark. But once in a while an animal dies in the woods and microorganisms, insects, and natural processes are invited for a feast.

Once I found a horse skull in a bush on an island near Istanbul, called Büyükada. I carried it with me while hitchhiking all the way through the Balkans and across europe back to Denmark. It was heavy, but somehow it felt necessary to bring it along. Today it exists as a strange hybrid between a rhinoceros, a deer, and a key hanger.

For me, skulls are valuable because they carry the memory of the individual they once supported. The skull protected a soft brain, fragile eyes, and the ability to eat and survive. It held everything that made a life possible. I see them as relics that carry memories and life. We cannot live without them, and yet they remain when everything else has disappeared.