Books

Reviews

‘A meditation on the fraught, fragile, and complicated love for place, ‘Liminal Spaces’ is ultimately an act of resistance. The fifteen women refuse to give in to the label of ‘disappearing’. Their words and art demand that they be seen.’ —Wasafiri Journal

‘Conceived as a visual exhibition on the page, ‘Liminal Spaces’ brings incredibly timely insights on the Guyanese diaspora to the fore. Through artworks, it is able to cover more ground than a classic scholarly analysis would be able to, while making it accessible to different audiences. As one of the only contributions of its kind, its importance cannot be overstressed.’ —GRIOT

Liminal Spaces: Migration and Women of the Guyanese Diaspora explores the art and migration narratives of fifteen women of Guyanese heritage. It spans diverse inter-generational perspectives—from those who leave Guyana, and those who are left—and seven seminal decades of Guyana’s history—from the 1950s to the present day—bringing the voices of women to the fore. The volume is a visual exhibition on the page; a four-part journey navigating the contributors’ essays and artworks, allowing the reader to trace the migration path of Guyanese women from their moment of departure, to their arrival on diasporic soils, to their reunion with Guyana. Eloquent and visually stunning, Liminal Spaces unpacks the global realities of migration, challenging and disrupting dominant narratives associated with Guyana, its colonial past, and its post-colonial present as a ‘disappearing nation.’ Multimodal in approach, the volume combines memoir, creative non-fiction, poetry, photography, art and curatorial essays to collectively examine the mutable notion of ‘homeland,’ and grapple with ideas of place and accountability.