New collaboration & A peek at my life as a sailor

Im so happy to finally being able to share my new collaboration with When You Think of Home. So first let me tell you a bit about this amazing new project and then I’ll share the background story of the print.

The Project

When You Think of Home is a new project and a collective of artists determined to help. The project collaborates with artists all around the globe with the purpose of selling the prints to benefit Acres of Love, a non-profit organisation providing forever homes to orphans in South Africa.

It’s an ongoing creative project that encourages artists around the world to illustrate the idea of “home,” inspired by their village, town, city, or state.

I’m honoured to be apart of this collective and to share my art print for this greater purpose.



My Interpretation of Home

When I started to think about what my interpretation of home is I instantly knew that it needed to have something to do with the ocean. It took me a while to get to the core of what home is for me, but then I figured it out - For me home is by the sea, on the sea, in the sea. For me home is the sea itself. Sailing on it, living by it or just looking at it.

I grew up on an island and the sea has always been present in my life. I’ve also been working as a sailing instructor sailing the oceans all over the world. I’ve crossed the Atlantic Ocean four times and the Indian Ocean once. The longest I’ve been out at sea without seeing land or going ashore is 45 days, that’s about 7 weeks with nothing but the sea surrounding. The most common question when I tell that story is - didn’t you go nuts being out at sea for so long? And the answer is quite the opposite actually. Now notice that I’ve sailed on huge tall ships, about 50 meters long and with 40 meters high masts. I would never ever sail alone on a regular sized sail boat for a longer period of time. Then I probably would go completely nuts.

But to sail with people, friends, co-workers and have nothing but the ship and the sea is a truly magical feeling. You live completely in the moment. Your days consists of working with your body to set sails and do maintenance work (like painting or sewing sails). And when work is done you hang out with a bunch of people who share your interest for sailing and who too are really enjoying themselves right now in this moment. It’s hard work, yes! There are storms, yes! Sometimes you wonder what the heck you’re doing there and why you’re not at home in your warm comfy bed being safe and sound. There’s even no internet connection - can you imagine? If you’re lucky you’re allowed to send one email a week on the long sailing legs, through some kind of satellite connection…

It’s definitely not for everyone, but for those who it is for and for all of those hundreds of people that I’ve sailed with and had the honor to teach how to sail, it usually turns out to be some sort of life changing experience.

So what is magical with the sea? Well, for once it’s forever changing - like life itself. No wave is like the other - they’re all unique. It’s unpredictable, it’s huge and in my experience sailing on the ocean brings people together in ways that I haven’t experienced anywhere else in life.

That’s a little bit of the background story of my print. Below you can see me climbing the rigging on the largest wooden sailing ship in the world. My former workplace - the Swedish Ship Götheborg (in Swedish it’s called Ostindiefararen Götheborg).

Me sailing as a sailing instructor on the worlds largest wooden sailing ship - the Swedish Ship Götheborg. Image from the Swedish newspaper Allehanda. Photo: Per Eurenius

The story behind the print

For me home is by the sea. I grew up on a beautiful little island with nothing but the sea surrounding and I have sailed across the oceans all over the world. I have experienced both the calmest beauty and the roughest storms. The sea is unpredictable, magical and brings me a sense of presence. Take me to the sea and I feel at home.

Check out my print here

https://www.whenyouthinkofhome.com/posters/maja-faber