Born of the soil

Coming from the countryside, the city has allowed a space for me to feel at home and thrive in my queer body. But my body longs for the grounding connection of nature, I feel I can never go back to where I was raised and make my home there because of attitudes to queer people in the countryside.

This video was created to illustrate a poem I wrote during Unit X Festival 2018.

My group was Theory In/As Practice, where we examined the relationship between art theory and practice in cross disciplinary reading group and exhibition.

We chose texts, studied them and held a reading group and discussion on the subjects raised.

I studied Sara Ahmed's 'Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others.' and led a reading group and discussion about location, experience of place and experience of marginalisation.

Transcript:

Our bodies exist in the physical world

We have a potent connection with all that surrounds us.

The Queer Empathic body exists in several spaces at once:

Physically in the Urban environment

Mentally in the Natural environment

The grounding connection to the Earth is vital to survival.

But the Queer body cannot exist safely in the spaces that are close to the soil.

My Queer body in space.

Urban space.

Natural space.

The politics that come with these lands are complicated.

I want safety for my queer body.

I was born of the soil.

It is essential for my survival.