Inga Källén and Nuria Bach Ylla

My name is Sara Vall and I’m a mix of a Spanish father and a Swedish mother. My grandmothers are two very different characters, separated by 2 500 km, one lives in Spain and the other one lives in Sweden. I was brought up in Sweden, so naturally I’ve spent a lot more time together with my Swedish grandma (mormor Inga), my Spanish grandmother (abuela Nuria) I only met during visits to Spain during the summers. Both grandmothers share a common interest for hand crafts and have a huge talent for making things look exquisite. I spent a lot of time during holidays with my Swedish grandmother and during that time she taught me everything I know about sewing and knitting. While grandmother Inga worked very hard all her life in a factory grandmother Nuria was a housewife. I remember as a child playing with them and the touch of their hands. While my grandmother Inga’s hands felt a bit dry and rough, my grandmother Nuria’s hands were always soft. They are the kind of grandmothers that will tell you to get up and sweep of your legs from dust whenever you’d fall with a “Oh, come on, that wasn’t so bad, was it.” And after pausing for a while you will realise, it really wasn’t that bad.

grandmother Inga and I a hot summers day

my grandfather and grandmother in their apartment in Barcelona

I don’t get the chance to meet them so often, my Spanish grandmother I see once a year, my Swedish grandmother I see a bit more often, but I always carry them with me. When I feel the smell of hot, wet asphalt I think of grandmother Nuria and the hot summers when they shower the streets of Barcelona with water to clean them. And whenever I have to show my driving licence I think of grandmother Inga and the time when she picked me up after the test. She asked me how it went and I answered: I made it! And she just said: Of course you did, I knew you would pass it. For me, my grandmothers meant having to people in my life that would always think that I could manage anything, they would support everything I do, with the attitude that there is nothing that I couldn’t do!