About this blog
Unquietborder is the blog for my animateur/artist residency at Fabrica. http://fabrica.org.uk/about-fabrica/
I’m exploring the idea of the sea as a border between countries, cultures and languages. Borders – both literal and internal – have been a part of my life and a preoccupation in my work for as long as I can remember.
What happens when we cross a border? What’s left behind, lost; what discoveries are made? What’s spoken aloud, what’s kept quiet?
Every time we walk into a building or get on a train we’re crossing a border. Each group we belong to has its own language. We move in and out of different cultures constantly. For some of us this means crossing political and geographical borders. For others it may be less obvious. The stakes differ – life and death choices or ordinary moments of awkwardness, excitement.
We’re learning new languages all the time and making sense of them with what we already know. Language can be a barrier or gateway. Do we trust it? How do we ‘interpret’ between our different cultures?
In particular, what borders or seas do queer and marginalized people have to cross in order to express ourselves?
What codes or devices do queer and/or marginalised writers employ to fit our own meanings into mainstream culture? How do we alter the dominant narrative?
During my residency I’m interested in responses to three questions:
Where do you come from?
What’s the purpose of your visit?
Do you have anything to declare?
I hope you will respond. Just click on the Questions page and leave your answers there. I’ll be exploring the answers, reading, running workshops and inviting other artists’ ideas throughout my residency.
unquietborder 
Where do you come from? I come from the sun and the sea!
What’s the purpose of your visit? The purpose of my visit is to go beyond my personal limits and live my life’s potential.
Do you have anything to declare? my life
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Congratulations on the residency Maria. The idea of crossing borders is a fantastic one – so many interpretations. Having lived in San Francisco for 20 yrs, then returning to the UK I’m v. interested in the idea of what it means to belong. Throw in being queer, then it’s a giant ball of wax!
Yo! More serendipity: Poet and friend Gillian Allnutt is running a workshop called Unbelonging in Newcastle for a Festival of belonging there, which I thought sounded wonderful.
Time to face the music armed with this great infoamrtion.