“Birchwood-plaques“ - “björktavlor“ in Swedish - are simple pictures sold as wall hangings and souvenirs during the last century, at times extremly popular with the general public.
From unknown origins in northern Europe more than a hundred years ago, these humble objects gradually spread across the world and have probably, at some time, been manufactured in most countries. They represent a cultural heritage about to be lost, an alternative aestetic tradition of newly urbanized people, and mirror the humble dreams of those who rarely traveled but took pride in documenting the few journeys they actually made.
The making of a birchwood-plaque requires an interesting mix of media. A postcard is glued to a thin, diagonally sliced piece of a treetrunk - preferably birch - and the image on the postcard is then continued and handpainted out to the edges of the oval slab of wood. Barometers, plastic deer, thermometers, Plastic Padding cliffs and other objects also appear. Some, especially early specimens, lack the postcard altogether; they are just painted.