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The Island

‘The Island’ was first published in 1961 in travel magazine ‘Turistliv i Finland’. Here the piece is read by Tove’s niece Sophia Jansson, who inspired one of Tove’s most famous works ‘The Summer Book.’

“It is astonishing the number of people who go about dreaming of an island”

Tove Jansson

 
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Bringing you ‘The Island’

A downloadable audio piece by multi-instrumentalist and contemporary composer Erland Cooper, who hails from the Orkney Isles. The piece is brought to life with on location field recordings by Kirsi Ihalainen as well as a spoken word contribution of Jansson’s essay ‘The Island’ by her niece and Creative Director of Moomin Oy Ltd. Sophia Jansson.

This is the first official English translation of this beautiful essay. The piece can be listened to while touring the exhibition or at home. Escape to Tove’s Island and help support London Wildlife Trust.

©Per Olov Jansson





“Tove Jansson was an inspirational creator and cultural icon. To be able to score an exhibition and retrospective of her work is a great honour. I have a fondness for London’s Walthamstow Wetlands and so to try and transport a listener through that world and into hers, over to the tiny island and cabin on her remote, treeless Klovharun where she created a timeless body of work, is a joy. She seemed like a child of nature and I’ve tried to bring that gentleness into a score to support this exhibition.

To me it feels almost like a soundwalk through her creative world, across the seas and back again into a city where local sounds of birds may interact freely with those of the score itself. She seemed to have such grace and affection towards her surroundings and I hope this meditative score touches on just a little bit on her magic.”

Erland Cooper