A series of 5 framed works on paper. Sonia E Barrett was inspired to look at feathers as a material whilst she was in New Orleans and saw how it was a point of pride to order feathers from NY. These feathers were collected from the English countryside. They are the flight feathers of migratory birds. Sonia E Barrett was interested in using a material that transcends in flight our nation states and passport system.

Stay is a powerfull word. It being said can cripple a person for flight. This work is a metaphor for that process. The feather way willing to make the word but the ends were almost a visual of taking off, I think this shows how torn we can be. Leave to stay is controversial here with Windrush and the larger problem of migrants leaving to escape the effects of climate injustice. In the Ghanian initiated year of return “stay” takes on new meanings. With every decision forced or freely taken to leave something asks us to stay. This work is a meditation on that moment. “Here to Stay” was a seminal text in terms of Black British identity formation.

A lot is made of the public border crossings but Sonia E Barrett thinks the private mental border crossed when asked to stay is a space worthy of address. This private resolve to cross an internal mental border can later propel people to defy more pubic borders.