This is a past event.

For EAF 2023, Nat Raha presented the first iteration of a performance work co-commissioned by EAF and TULCA Festival of Visual Arts, addressing the history and development of island prisons across the globe through the colonial project of the British Empire. The performance was presented at University of Edinburgh’s 50 George Square.

The work travelled from Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth, to outposts of ‘empyre’ such as Spike Island, Ireland, and to the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. The performance took the form of a sonically expansive, trans-historical poem letter addressed to ancestors incarcerated for anti-colonial revolt.

Through the work, Raha considered what the rise and fall of these carceral islands can teach us about contemporary abolitionist struggles, addressing international connections and strategies in anti-colonial revolt from a transfeminist perspective.

Supported by the Scottish Government’s Festivals EXPO Fund. This performance was co-commissioned with TULCA Festival of Visual Arts, under the title ‘honey, milk and salt in a seashell before sunrise’, curated by Iarlaith Ní Fheorais. The festival took place in Galway, Ireland, from 3–19 November 2023. TULCA Festival of Visual Arts is supported by The Arts Council of Ireland, Galway City Council and Galway County Council.