Caroline Brothers: "I am always impressed by the vitality and cultural daring of Barcelona"

Currently resident in London, Caroline Brothers is an Australian writer and journalist who in her books has dealt with topics such as disappearances during the Argentine dictatorship or the epic of the exile of two Afghan boys trying to reach England. Co-hosted by PEN Català, last July she last July she did a literary residency at the MUHBA Vil-la Joana, where she advanced in the preparation of a novel set in Tasmania in the 1820s. “It brings fiction’s lens to bear on the unquiet colonial history of Britain and Australia”, says the author.

It was not the first time Brothers had visited Barcelona. She had already been here, she explains, as a student, journalist and on vacation. “I am always impressed by its vitality and cultural daring, not only in architecture, but also in literature, theater and arts,” says the Australian. A good example is the show Titanas, by Sol Picó, which she went to see in the course of the residence: “It was surprising to see the company’s dancers performing right inside the archaeological site of el Born, giving life to the ruins as if the mantle of destruction still hung over Barcelona”. It was the first time, however, that she lived in a museum, “and the sensation of living synchronically in two eras was amplified by two clocks that always marked the time with a time difference”. She appreciates that Vil-la Joana is located in the middle of nature, and even more considering that the residence was during summer: “The forest environment was a wonderful refuge from the heat of July, and I even began to feel a certain sympathy for the wild boars. But the highlight for me was to go for walks around Vil.la Joana just after sunrise, when the forest was bathed by the song of the birds. It was an incredible sensory experience”.

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Photography: Daniel Nogués Durán.