Sunday 15 August 2010

drawing the world

I spent the day drawing memories of all our journeys together.
All the borders we crossed or couldn't cross. Drawings and thoughts
mixed together

Strange that you just emailed this, Sinead:

I am moving between Dublin and Belfast
On a journey thinking about visible and invisible borders
The Irish / N.Irish border is invisable now
It wasn't like this all the time
There used to be a military border
But now Irish citizens can cross back and forward freely between
Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland

I had been thinking how the so -called Peace Lines that we visited,
separated Belfast (Protestant and Catholic areas) as a barrier and
border and yet we didn't even notice crossing the border into the
Republic of Ireland (Eire)

I picked up a globe of the world and starting drawing various journeys
on it, finally covering all the land in red. I spun it round and
round so it was almost like a crystal ball i could stare into and
meditate on. I remember having a globe as a child and putting my hands
over it and feeling like a giant and wondering what i would do if i
was a giant holding the world. I worried about holding it gently
enough. My hands look very old now holding this globe covered in a
red land mass.