My dad was a teacher with a deep love of nature. He was curious and had a natural impulse for sharing his knowledge—always eager to teach me everything he knew. When he got dementia, he lost this ability, and I decided to keep up his legacy. In my illustration posters, I present some of the abundance of knowledge he has given me.
Throughout my entire childhood, my dad was the family’s greatest outdoors enthusiast—no matter what time of year or weather conditions. In the spring, we whittled willow flutes and dug for worms for the evening’s fishing trip. In the summer, we caught crabs and sea robins on the beach. In the autumn, we gathered honey and berries. In the winter, we put out bird-food and cut down our own Christmas tree in the wood. Our holiday trips centred around spending time in nature: We have travelled to Northern Norway and gone fishing in the midnight sun, we have been to Skagen and seen where the two oceans meet, we have spent time in my grandfather’s woodwork workshop building birdhouses and toy boats, and we have filled in as farm workers in places with both cows and chickens, horses and goats.
When my dad got dementia and had to quit his primary school teaching job, I decided to honour him and his commitment to sharing his knowledge the way I know best: through illustrations. I wanted to create illustrations of flora and fauna where aesthetics and knowledge were equally important.
What is perhaps the best part of this project is that it is everlasting: There is always room for more knowledge, for more illustrations. My dad’s legacy is infinite.
