“A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant state of transition. The prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants.”

- Gloria E Anzaldua.

A Narrow Strip Along a Steep Edge explores Fort Lytton as a paradoxical space—both a site of protection and exclusion, past and present, presence and absence. Built in 1881 to defend Brisbane from naval invasion, the fort was never called to action. Its moat, submarine mines, and artillery remained unused, and today, it lingers as an obsolete boundary with no threat and nothing to protect.

Once a structure of military control, Fort Lytton also represents a different kind of fortification— the act of boundary-making is never neutral; it carries weight, whether as a defence against violence or the violence of exclusion. The fort, straddling land and water, past and present, embodies liminality—a threshold where histories, geographies, and identities blur.

Haunted by unrealized futures, its casemates hold echoes of past violences, yet obsolescence offers the possibility of transformation. While the fort no longer guards against invasion, it continues to demarcate, to exclude, to tell stories of past power. A Narrow Strip Along a Steep Edge invites eight contemporary artists to inhabit these lingering structures, reconsider inherited borders, and explore what emerges in borderlands when boundaries dissolve.

Featuring:

Angel

Charlie Robert

Dean Ansell

Jessica Dorizac

Max Athans

Miguel Aquilizan

Yanru Pan

Ziyi Wei

Curated by Holly Eddington

The Creative Sparks Grant Program is an initiative of Brisbane City Council in partnership with the Queensland Government with Arts Queensland

Opening Night:

Join us for the official sunset opening of A Narrow Strip Along a Steep Edge.

Time: 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM
- Artwork Activation by Dean Ansell: 4:40-5:00 PM
- Music by Gos Brady, Yage.0k, and Banque

This event is free, but registration is required.

Please note: The site is difficult to access via public transport. Parking is available on the property.

Contact the host of A Narrow Strip Along A Steep Edge Opening