Introduction
I arrived in Scotland eleven years ago at the end of a personal journey that brought me to travel across and live in many different places, from Italy to Nepal, from France to Thailand. Through this journey, I have met my nomadic nature, my need for movement, and my need to stay. For a place I could call 'home'. No matter for how long, but still a 'home'. And I have started asking myself what 'home' is and what 'belonging somewhere' means. Not objectively, of course, but for myself and other people, each individually.
The geographer Yu Fu Tuan defines home as "The centre of an astronomically determined spatial system. A vertical axis linking heaven to the Underworld passes through it. The stars are perceived to move around one's abode; home is the focal point of a cosmic structure". A focal point and cosmic structure. I find that combining these two concepts gives a strong glimpse of the link between the micro and macro cosmos that the idea of home may represent.
And that is me. Then, there is the world. In the last few years, wars and genocides have forced people to migrate and abandon their homes. Brexit has created new borders and made some of us feel less at home than we thought. Covid 19 has forced us to stay at home.
The Persephone Project
I see myself as a migrant, a privileged one who could choose where to go, when to leave and where to stay. But still a migrant.
'We' usually speak about border crossing and migration using a socio-political language in today's world. A lexicon based on capitalistic ideas that feed fears, the concept of migration as a 'problem', and migrants as 'the others'. But migration is an organic process that has always been part of life. For human and non-human animals, plants, and micro-organisms.
Plants and animals migrate. Seasonally. Naturally.
In ancient mythology, gods and heroes were the ones who could cross geographical and symbolic borders.
This project takes its name from the Greek goddess Persephone (the Latin Proserpine). She is the daughter of Demeter (Earth), associated with spring growth. And she is the wife of Hades, the king of the Underworld. She spends six months on Earth and six months in the Underworld. She belongs to both realms but doesn't fully belong to either of them. Her home is both places. She embodies both realities. Her story is my chosen myth of reference for this work.
If You Wish to Be Involved
This call is for people who identify themselves as women and who have made their home in a place that is not their native country. Either by choice or by necessity.
And this is what being involved means:
- I would like to invite you to think of your idea of 'home', where 'home' is and what it means for you to belong (or not belong or partially belong…) somewhere. Feeling at home, nostalgia, missing something, the fascination for the 'exotic' (in a broad sense), curiosity, dichotomy, melancholy…all these – and many other - feelings coexist in me. They are with me all the time, all of them, often at the same time. They have become part of who I am. Or perhaps I am who I am because they are my nature. What feelings do you associate with your idea of 'home'? Please make a list. Your list can be in any format you like (written, audio, video, visual…)
- I would like to invite you to answer the following questions using an Identity Box: Where is home? What is home? Where do I belong? Do I belong somewhere? Please, feel free to share further questions or create your own questions in resonance with the theme. I will explain below what an Identity Box is.
- I would like you to choose a myth (ancient or modern) or a folktale, poem, a story of any kind that for you connects to the themes of belonging, home, crossing borders, travelling, returning. As I said above, for me, it is the myth of Persephone. Of course, there are no limitations, and it is a personal choice. The only direction is that whatever you choose should resonate with you.
- I would like you to draw your migration line or lines. These can include any significant 'movement' in your life. Please, give a colour to your line or lines.
The first step is to put together all our responses in the form of myths (or folktales, poems etc.), migration lines, identity boxes and create a virtual gallery.
In the future, more opportunities may arise depending on what we will produce, how the world will be once we have created our work. They could be a physical exhibition, virtual show, booklet… to name a few.
Please note that the extent you want to be identified within the project outputs is totally up to you. When we share the myths/stories, identity boxes and migration lines you can choose to make your details public or be fully anonymous or be identified with a nickname.
The Identity Box Process
"Identity boxes are boxes that contain items that represent who we are" in response to specific issues. In this context, I would like to invite you to use your identity box to describe through objects that are meaningful to you your feelings about the ideas of 'home' and 'belonging'. Please, try to address the following questions:
Where is home?
What is home?
Where do I belong?
Do I belong somewhere?
Please choose one or more objects for each question and place them in your identity box. You can name the box if you like. And you can add further questions to the ones listed above. Take your time to fill the box. It can take a day or a few weeks. There are no right or wrong objects or ways to engage with the 'identity box' process. It is entirely personal and subjective. Once you are happy with your box, please let me know, and we can think together about the next step. There are multiple options for you to share your identity box:
- Take pictures of the box and objects, write down (or video/audio record) your stories about the objects and send the files to me.
- Meet up (physically or virtually) and talk through your identity box.
- Any other sharing ideas you may feel comfortable with…
How to Join and Project Schedule
If you feel this project resonates with you and you would like to join or have questions, please send me an email at: chandrin@gmail.com to let me know you would like to be involved. If you know someone else that might be interested, please feel free to share the call.
I am trying to keep the schedule as open as possible and am not giving a deadline for you to share your outputs with me. However, I would like to start working on and sharing the virtual gallery by Spring 2022.
A couple of final notes:
1."I" and embodied practice.
As you may have noticed, I have repeatedly used the first person and references to my experiences in this 'proposal'. As a scholar, I have been trained to use an objective tone when writing my proposals, projects and ideas. I have intentionally dismantled this position and the dichotomy of brain/body in most of my recent research. My approach to this project has been, since the very beginning, an embodied one. I believe that embodied research is essential when working in practice-based and creative research. As an artist – and as a human being – I can't prescind from my body and don't want to as I can't prescind from experiencing, living, feeling, building knowledge through my body. And I believe that for this project an embodied approach is essential.
2. A definition of 'migrant'.
While there is no universally accepted definition for “migrant”, in this context I tend to embrace the definition developed by IOM, which is quite open and define a migrant as "a person who moves away from his or her place of usual residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons." (https://www.iom.int/key-migration-terms)
Thank you for taking the time of reading this.
Feel free to get in touch with questions.
And I hope you join us at the Persephone Project!
Alessandra