When I hear the cuckoo, I know that spring is beginning. Then comes summer, when young birds make their first explorations in the Lisbon are, still fed by their parents. In September, thousands of passerines arrive, including the willow-warbers. Together with the squawking of dozens of flamingos, in their migration stop in the Tagus estuary while the parrot eagle prepares to date, they give us the autumn colors that flood the city, announcing winter and Christmas,
Like this I counted the years that have passed, but now I have been surprised by more than a thousand origami birds, made by children, suspended in simulated trees, swinging at the sound of the breeze, without flapping their wings, but with smiles in their beaks. Is it possible or imagined? Or is it really an enormous desire for hope in these uncertain times…
José Sá Fernandes
Councilor for the Environment, Green Structure, Climate and Energy of the Lisbon City Council
Note: the installation Mil Pássaros was part of Lisbon European Green Capital and it was the culmination of a work that began in 2020, involving schools and kindergartens, museums, libraries and families. The end of January again brought shadows, but the birds, real or imagined, will continue to make us fly.
