What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being left alone by the sea.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Less identify with and more want the mythical gay life Sappho may have had.
Which living person do you most admire?
Based on what is getting me through today, I’ll say Sade.
Which is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Forgetting people’s names.
What is your greatest extravagance?
The liberal use of perfume I can’t really afford.
What is your favourite journey?
Any walk from a shoreline into the sea.
On what occasion do you lie?
Often when someone asks me how I am.
Which living person do you most despise?
I try not to waste time or energy despising people.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
The sea.
When and where were you happiest?
When left alone by the sea.
Which talent would you most like to have?
To hold my breath underwater for much longer than I can at present.
What is your current state of mind?
Soft.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Understanding that it can be important to be soft.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what do you think it would be?
An octopus. Imagine being able to move like that.
What is your most treasured possession?
A little succulent (I think it’s a Stonecrop ) gifted to me by my best friend Kim — she grew it from a cutting taken from Derek Jarman’s garden in Dungeness.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Transphobia.
What is your favourite occupation?
To be occupied with anything beyond labour. To be occupied doing nothing at all.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
A thick neck.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
I’m too in awe of women to choose one quality.
Who are your favourite writers?
The gorgeous writers who have written for TULCA this year — Sophia Al-Maria, Claire Biddles, CA Conrad, Theodore Kerr, Sekai Machache, Mira Mattar, Mícheál McCann, Nisha Ramayya, and Jay G Ying.
What is your motto?
“Strive always, in all ways, at all times, always, for intensity. Cold or hot. Hard or soft. Gut-wrenching or deeply stilling — utter intensity” - Octavia Butler
Eoin Dara is from Belfast and is the curator of the TULCA Festival of Visual Arts for 2021 which runs from November 5 to 21. See tulca.ie for exhibition details.
