Liminal Lands was an interdisciplinary project for MA and PHD students affiliated with the Sonic Arts Research Centre, Film Studies, the Centre for International Borders Research and the Interdisciplinary Arts MA at Queen's University Belfast, as well as the School of Art and Design at University of Ulster. 

The project explored the idea of liminality and the "thresh-hold" in the context of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. a group of ten artists travelled this border generating work across a variety of artistic practices along the way.  On our return to Belfast, we devised a six hour durational performance using the material generated at The Sonic Lab in The Sonic Arts Research Centre on April 17 2010. Images of this performance are available in the gallery.

The project was led by Michael Mayhew working in collaboration with Paul Stapleton, with support from a variety of artists and academics who have an interest in this particular border and/or borders in general.

 

April Performance | Photo: Neil Harrison (www.neilharrisonphotography.com)


Below is some of my initial solo work generated by while traveling the border. 

Kilbroney Graveyard 

I am alone in this graveyard waiting for you to arrive. 

And although the ground is covered in graves, 

And the church is now a ruin, 

There is so much beauty here. 

There is a silenced bell, 

With a sweet and solemn sound, 

That brings me to tears.


There is a woman laying fresh flowers, 

By the giant's grave, 

For someone she must have known, 

Who came and went. 


I feel the guilt that silence brings, 

A sadness that is always there, 

But silenced. 


If I hurt you, I don't think you'd cry. 

You would walk away in silence. 

If I cried I would cry to nothing, 

The only response I would find would be the birds in the trees, 

the hum of distant cars, 

the sheep in the fields, 

The sounds of this graveyard.


I am waiting for you to arrive. 


Rostrevor beach

I speak like a child because I want you to protect me, 

But I don't want to be a child. 

Somehow I understand that there are things out there I just don't want to know about. 


And will I ever go it alone? 

Will I ever cast off this anchor that keeps me afloat? 

I think I hope I will always sail with a line tracing back to your ship, 

So that should I be hit by a storm, 

 You will pull me in. 


So that although I am not a child, 

I will always be your child, 

At a distance, 

At the end of a line. 


But although a line keeps me safe, 

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if the line were cut. 

Would it really be so bad? 

Would I protect a child of my own, 

While still at the end of your line? 


Rocks that stay put, 

Tides that come in. 

Because I want you to protect me, 

I speak like a child.