In the latest article collaboration between Wales Arts Review and the Western Mail, Split in Two brings you performance artist and writer Krystal Lowe reflecting on the two homes of her heart, her adopted Wales and the land of her birth, Bermuda.
The home I have is a tiny terraced house cwtched between its peers. It warms us in the winter and it smoulders in the summer. There are licks of golden-yellow paint on the white ceiling from painting the walls in lockdown; the second step wobbles and there’s this one warm spot on the floor in the small bedroom that I curl up in when I’m on my own. Within its walls, I feel like my true self; I’m home. And when I lay on the cigarette scented peppermint green sofa that I bought at a charity shop in 2011 for £50 and look up at the painting I bought in a market in China, and the little wooden bear I bought in Bromyard, and hold Young Lowe tightly in my arms; my heart still rumbles with the constant longing for home.
Belonging. Cynfin. My heart breaks at the idea of belonging here – finding home here. Even though my passport and Welsh son are very clear connections to this place – it’s something different to belong here. Maybe it’s because we’re so often asked to choose only one place to call home; only one place to belong.
… to read the rest of this article, subscribe to the new Wales Arts Review substack.
