Building Bridges  
 

2001
A short story English/German

German translation Brücken Bauen Tanya Ury and Rolf Steiner 2003

Published in English with 3 Photos by Sylvia Ury ca. 1958 in the catalogue to the exhibition Termini Technici, Salon Verlag, 2001 Cologne ISBN 3-89770-150-2 (D)

In several of her works Tanya Ury has adopted the name of Hermè or Herme (her & me):

Hermeneurotic 1984- (collection of literary texts)
Hermes Insensed 2000-2001 (photo series with 15 short stories)
Building Bridges 2001 (short story)
Between the Lines or The Three Rs 2001 (short story)
Holding the Baby 2002 (2 photographs and short story)
Stick Insect 2003 (short story)
Getta Life 2003 (short story)
Night and Day 2003 (short story)
Hermesignet 2005 (gold ring with inscription)
Herme 2010 (digitally processed 1950’s fashion cover)
herlookingovermeshoulder 2011 (digitally processed 1940’s advertisement)
 

Although largely autobiographical, this narrative is told in the 3rd person; Tanya Ury adopts the name of Hermè (her & me), thereby objectifying a personal history and lending it the flavour of the antique. Building Bridges recounts the early years when the Ury family travelled regularly to Cologne from London.

"They had crossed the water and got away. In the early days it was by sea. But because something important had been left behind, they were always going back - by sea, then by air, much later by tunnel. It's too wide, too far, to build a bridge over the Channel."

Extract from Building Bridges
Tanya Ury