Egill Sæbjörnsson & Sigríður Björnsdóttir

Little brook - a song performance

On the occasion of Survival Kit 17 in Riga

Latvian Embassy

Paris May 2026

On the occasion of the 17th Edition of Survival Kit Festival in Riga, Latvia, Egill Sæbjörnsson performed a song he had made around a poem by the Icelandic artist and pioneer of art therapy, Sigríður Björnsdóttir (b.1929).

Survival Kit is curated by Elena Sorokina and Simona Markel Dvorák, with the Initiative for Practices and Visions of Radical Care. The project, titled Arrow of the Wind: On Artists and Healers, explores the shared terrain between art and healing — spanning therapy, incantation and ritual, physical and mental healthcare, and spiritual restoration. Across cultures and throughout history, these practices have been deeply intertwined, taking many forms — from shamanic rituals to clinical art therapy. The exhibition, which takes place from August 28 to September 27, 2026 in Riga, builds on this lineage, tracing a continuum and ongoing transformations, rather than a separation. Healing stands at the heart of what the curators call “life-affirming practices” — ongoing, attentive processes that nurture individuals, sustain communal bonds, safeguard cultural knowledge, and deep connections with human and non-human ancestors and the land. These practices value the quality of relationships, the care embedded in methods, and the slow cultivation of continuity as much as any visible outcome.

Filming: Linus Gratte