How to exist across borders?

Most maps assume you belong somewhere. One language, one culture, one identity, one role. The categories are clean. On the ground, most of us are messier than that. I know that I am.

As the child of a divorce, I spent my early years between houses. It continued in my adult life: between French, English and Chinese, between Europe, Australia and East Asia, between roles that didn't have names, between communities that didn't quite overlap. That position is uncomfortable, we know that. It's also generative. You notice things from the threshold that are invisible from either side. More: by being in between, you hold things together, as a living bridge.

This thread gathers the writing that came from living in the gaps. Travel and place. Language and translation. Queer community and identity at the border. The professional work of operating between official structures, in the roles that organisations need but don't know how to name or reward. The ecotone: the zone where ecosystems meet, and new things become possible.

Featured

Beyond Butterflies

Innovation happens in liminal spaces. Beyond Butterflies: Designing the Future Through Ecotonal Innovation draws on the wisdom of nature by exploring the ecotone—that rich in-between space where ecosystems meet and overlap. From individual career paths and organizational design to start-up incubators, this booklet turns to foxes, gels and lichens (and others) as ecotonal guides to broaden our perception of how the world actually works, and redesign our professional lives in times of uncertainty. Buy it here!

Shapeshifters Commons

A wiki for all things Shapeshifters - an organisation I co-founded, exploring the work in between

Travel and place

Les Portes de l’Orient

In 2008, instead of flying from Paris to Melbourne, my partner and I took three months to travel overland from Paris to Singapore. The journey was deliberate — a slow crossing of the world as a way of crossing into a new life. This blog documented it in real time: the landscapes, the people, the border crossings, the slow shift in everything familiar. It is the founding document of everything in this thread. → [Browse]

The Fake China

In summer 2011, I taught French at Tianjin Normal University. Staying in a large East coast city with strong European influences, I often heard people tell me that I should head inland in order to discover ‘the real China’. Instead, I chose to try and understand Tianjin as a meeting ground for East and West, and celebrate its artificiality.

Living in China

I had two periods of life in China - in July-August 2011, and again in August-December 2013. Happening at a time of boom and opening for the country, both were transformative for me. Beside The Fake China, those posts share some of my personal experiences, enthusiasms and frustrations.

Australian Aesthetics

I migrated to Melbourne from Paris in 2008. A crucial step in my migration journey was to develop a sense of appreciation for the sights offered by Australian cities – experience Australian beauty. This blog is an attempt at capturing the shape of Australian urban landscape, through text and photographs.

Looking back at my 35 year old self

In 2013, I spent a term of studies in Nanjing. This was a transformative experience, and a chance to reflect on my migration journey to Australia.

In the Dominican Republic

My mother moved to the DR. Over an extended stay, I wrote a series of pieces for the newsletter she runs.

Language, translation, intercultural work

Across languages and cultures

I’m a European polyglot living in Australia, with experience around the world. This series reflects on my exploration of intercultural spaces, and what happens in them.

Marco Polo Magazine - exploring the Chinese blogosphere

In 2011, I founded Marco Polo Project, an organisation that aims to develop new common cultural practices for people living across cultures and geographies. Our first large-scale initiative was a digital magazine bringing new voices from China to readers across the world. I curated an editorial line that brought together established and emerging intellectuals and social commentators to reflect the state of cultural, sociological and philosophical conversations on the Chinese blogosphere. Our magazine fed into Danwei Media (now supChina) as a weekly column, the '1510 digest', offering a unique window into conversations happening in China’s digital sphere, and informed contributions to ANU-Centre for China in the World’s publication, The China Story. In 2014, we curated a world-first bilateral festival of digital literature, exploring the new ways we share stories online across the Chinese and English-speaking virtual worlds.

Marco Polo facilitation handbook

In 2015, I brought together a group of facilitators as part of the ‘Marco Polo Project co-lab’ to explore new ways of facilitating intercultural engagement. Together, we produced the Marco Polo Handbook: a facilitator’s toolbox explicitly designed with a diverse group in mind.