Since May, when, as a consequence of mentorship duties at Ocean Space, I was offered an apartment in Venice for the three-months of my term, I have felt itinerant in terms of workspace. August and September involved a lot of travel, and in October I received the keys to my apartment in Innsbruck as part of my residency at Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen. Inhabiting that workspace occurred simultaneous to our gradual shift into our new rented apartment in Tramin, across the road from my in-law’s place, which was our home since we moved to Italy in June 2020. You can only imagine the sense of dislocation my body has encountered as I have navigated all this in-betweenness. It is a miracle indeed that I have been functional through all the back-and-forth which often made me miss the idyll of our 2020 lockdown life.

The recent lockdown imposed in Austria definitely offered me a sense of relief. Since most museums and cultural institutions were shut, it made little sense for me to travel to Innsbruck. The rate of COVID-19 transmission was also so alarmingly high, I felt apprehensive meeting friends and acquaintances. It seemed wiser to remain in place, focus on my Italian A1.1 course and the other significant commitments I’d been nursing on my plate.