Title: Between the lines of the EEA (PR) form I imagine the north
Medium: Performance (video documentation)
Size: Variable
Duration: approximately 20 minutes
Year: 2017
Description
This piece of work is an improvised performance with four ‘memory lanterns’ the 85-pages long EEA (RP) form. Instead of filling in the application form to get for a document certifying permanent residence or permanent residence card under the EEA Regulations I play with it and articulate its content in a different way. The piece of work developed in response to the referendum and the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, it is telling a personal story about the contradictions of residency and belonging, in a rapidly changing political and social environment.
The piece have been performed three times in different locations. Each time, the piece of work evolved, the improvisation changed by the various spaces and audiences. The headings of the form were read from the beginning to end and when completed the pages were placed in a pattern around the glowing lanterns. They resembled ice, snowflakes and a forest path. The work creates a tension between the formal bureaucratic words and the softness of the lanterns and the playfulness of the paper patterns.
Reflection
As I read from the EEA (PR) form, my voice is faltering under its burden of authority. I am reading from the boundaries between inclusion and exclusion. The glass is adorned with images of pine forest. Between the lines of the EEA (PR) form I imagine the north. As I perform I read in the light of lanterns. Memories of home. As I read, browns and greens spread a soft glow across the pages. There is a tension between the bureaucratic language on the form and the vessels of nostalgia. I perform the tensions of here and there, now and then. I think about what it means to dwell, reside, inhabit, belong, unbelong and have residence. To be inside, outside or both. I think about how it feels to speak from the border, from its many gaps and overlaps.