- What would my life be like if I lived there? I want to meet people who are a bit like me. We meet in a place of their choosing which has some relation to their identity. We meet, we chat, we have a cup of tea for however long or short a time they have, says Sonia Hughes.

Sonia Hughes resents the question ‘Where are you from?’ when it arrives with a hint with ‘you don’t belong here’. So she’s trying to be anywhere, from anywhere, welcome and entitled. This is not easy, being a Black woman can signal a particular class, an imagined status, a certain history; she’s wondering if she can operate in the world as if none of those things counted against her.  I am from Reykjavikis her experiment on being a post-racial global citizen. 

- In this artwork she will lay claim to space and freedom in Harstad, will this be alright for all of us? Each day Sonia will arrive at a new location in the city with a trolley of materials, tools and a few precious possessions in order to build a new place where she can feel at home. She invites the people of Harstad to help her, to witness, to come into her dwelling, says festival director Ragnheiður Skúladóttir

In March this year Sonia will have a Residency in Harstad to meet people who are somewhat like her, she is among other traits looking to meet people who has parents with Alzheimer’s, children of immigrants, a person who has lived in the city for less than three years, an artist, a person who doesn’t  believe in God but occasionally goes to church and someone who used to be a political activist.

- In my experience, the people of Harstad are welcoming and open, so I’m sure we’ll be able to find people Sonia can meet, concludes Skúladóttir.

Please show your interest in meeting Sonia Hughes here, or reach out to Festspillene i Nord-Norge/Maryam Sharifi: maryam@festspillnn.no