Bordered Belonging: An Interview with Izzy Finch and Mymona Bibi

Bordered Belonging platforms the voices and perspectives of those living in a system that does not always offer compassion, adequate care, or sanctuary. How do we decide which bodies are perceived to be a risk to society? Why is care from the state often conditional and policed?

Bordered Belonging offers a space to interrogate health inequalities, the role artists can play in creating solidarity, and mutual aid in (un)caring systems. It includes new work by artist and activist Bhavani Esapathi and ‘Sick Bed’, a film by Leah Clements, which uses virtual reality gaming to situate the viewer as someone who is stuck in bed with an unnamed illness. ‘Crip Quilt’ by Jamila Prowse, a large-scale, patchwork textile quilt, translating the individual and collective experiences of disability, will also be on show alongside Prowse’s moving image work ‘Spoons (After Carolyn Lazard)’. This film explores spoon theory, using spoons as a visualisation of the disparity in energy reserves between disabled and able-bodied people. Finally, Jamie Hale’s poem ‘I wish to be held by a river’ will be exhibited, painted directly on the gallery walls, with their poetry collection, ‘Shield’.

There will also be an area for reading and reflecting within the gallery, featuring the revolutionary texts from those who have inspired and contributed to the creation of this project. This includes the work of Jamie Hale, Nira Yuval Davis, Bob Williams Findlay, Alice Wong, and Shada Kafai.

This programme is developed by The NewBridge Project with writer, maker & social-tech activist Bhavani Esapathi. As an immigrant, disabled woman of colour much of her work is impacted by her lived experiences alongside extensively working with patient groups and research institutes.