Five Questions for... Becca Grady

We continue our series of occasional short interviews with contributors and friends of Elsewhere with Becca Grady, whose writing featured in our Twilight issue. 

What does home mean to you?

Home has begun to feel more like a process to me. I’ve been moving around a lot in the last decade and while some places feel more familiar to me than others, home itself has been fluid. A feeling. Home is making the bed comfortable, chopping vegetables and cooking dinner. Home is creating a safe haven. Creating care. Right now, home is also where my partner and dog are, where my extended family— chosen and given—are. And after a year away, my partner and I have just returned to New Mexico, in the southwest of the United States, a place I have lived for six years and this too feels like a kind of home.

Which place do you have a special connection to?

I love the mountains but I grew up near the ocean in Maine in the northeast of the United States, and lived for a while in Nova Scotia, Canada, so I am always dreaming about swimming in the northern Atlantic.

What is beyond your front door?

I just moved to a hill in the middle of Albuquerque, New Mexico and there is a view of Mt. Taylor in the distance. I’ve been enjoying watching it in the mornings and evenings, and the skies as storms roll through.

What place would you most like to visit?

Australia. When I was a kid, I borrowed a historical novel set in Australia from my grandmother and ever since have been fascinated by its landscapes and long complicated history—much like in the US. What first drew me in were descriptions of western Australia—big sky, red rocks and desert, and it’s interesting that I find myself living in a place with some similarities to what to the landscape I used to dream about as a kid. 

What are you reading / watching / listening to / looking at right now?

I just finished reading (and enjoying) Imogen Binnie’s Nevada, Kyo Maclear’s Unearthing and Gillian Rose’s Love’s Work. I’ve been watching 100 Foot Wave about surfing in Nazare, Portugal. Last weekend, I saw an art show called Abstracting Nature at the Albuquerque Museum with work by Agnes Martin, Joanna Keane Lopez and others, and then went record shopping to get four albums that I love: Nick of Time by Bonnie Raitt, White Chalk by PJ Harvey, Tiger’s Blood by Waxahatchee and Bright Future by Adrianne Lenker.

Becca Grady is a queer writer and artist working at the intersections of art, environmental issues and place. Her work has been supported by fellowships and workshops such as Granta, Bread Loaf, Tin House and Pocoapoco. Becca grew up in the US and Mexico, and lives in New Mexico.  

You can read ‘Attention’ by Becca Grady here.