Creative dialogues have always been close to my heart - whether in combination with dance, music, voice or the written word.

One special project connects me with my friend and illustrator Ignasi Blanch from Barcelona.

Neither one of us speaks the other’s native language perfectly. Yet, we share an international language, our heart’s.

Out of the desire to work on something together, we decided on a project in the form of a creative dialogue that has been going on for several years and is characterized by trust and openness. Our first Leporello, a narrative based on my words and Ignasi’s pictures, traveled via mail between Barum and Barcelona countless times. Ignasi’s husband was the first one to point us that we were sending back and forth an original and wondered what would happen if it got lost. We hadn't thought of that at all and started making copies.

Our creative dialogue grew further and developed into an entire story. We called it: “Violetta and the Stork.” It’s a story about a woman on her way to finding herself. Neither of us knew her beforehand and we didn’t specifically craft her. She just appeared one day and still, she reveals more of herself to us during our dialogue. She remains surprising to us. And something else happened: Without it being our intention, with “Violetta and the Stork”, we created an old-fashioned fable, which is both, timeless and modern.

We never planned to make this creative dialogue public. At some point we talked about our private project, and everyone agreed that we had to share this story with a wider audience. Once again, life has interfered - and we accept this new invitation.

Find the first part of Violetta and the Stork here.

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