Melatu Uche Okorie travelled to Lisbon
Dublin’s second artist, Sally Hayden, travelled to Marseille
Artists’ Statement
The stories by the young non-actors in Arena Ensemble’s BLOOMING, which I witnessed in Lisbon, were much more than life experiences. They were stories of survival, of then-and-now. Through the narrative, the young performers were showing that the past is never fully gone but that one could take back control and power. Such is the power of opening the door for marginalised communities to stand and speak. Marco Martins with Arena Ensemble has thoughtfully and creatively provided an empowering medium through which groups who rarely get opportunities to voice their stories can do so. Here on stage, the young non-actors were the architects of their own life and hopefully, this will transmit into their future.
Artists’ Biography
Melatu-Uche Okorie was born in Enugu, Nigeria and has been living in Ireland for twelve years. She has an Mphil in creative writing from Trinity College, Dublin. Her work has been published in Dublin: Ten Journeys One Destination, Alms on the Highway (New Writing from the Oscar Wilde Centre), LIT Journal, College Green Magazine. Her debut collection, This Hostel Life, was published in May, 2018.
Melatu-Uche is currently working on a novel. “Does writing come to someone? I’ll say, yes, in my case it did. As a young teen, if I was asked to name a hundred things that I would become when I grew up, writing would not have made the list. But, I was a good storyteller. A great one even. I knew that from a young age, and I savoured my ability to come into a story from perspectives that are contrary to the norm. I never equated that to writing or thought that the two went hand in hand. Until my audience was only a new-born baby, then, I turned to writing for a new audience.”
“I write because I’m interested in people. The ways we change depending on external stimuli. I see the world as a big stage and we, humans, as characters in it. Sometimes we play the protagonist, the villain, the in-between, the pretender, the follower, the leader, the submissive, the stand-alone, the weak, the strong. Creating these conflicting characters is what I enjoy most about writing.
More info
Visual Gesture
Each artist on the residency programme was asked to create a simple visual gesture for potential inclusion in the ULYSSES European Odyssey book. An image that reflected their visit to another partner city, a moment which stayed with them, something quite simple, even symbolic.
All images are copyright of the individual artists.
