Norma Wilson spent the month of July 2002 in Spain as a writer in
residence with Fundacion Valparaiso, located near Mojacar. The foundation
offers residencies to eighty artists each year. Wilson was offered
the residency after submitting samples of her poetry. Residents receive
free room, board and laundry services and are housed in a large adobe-style
complex located near the foot of Mojacar La Vieja, a mountain that
was home to a series of cultures--Agaric, Phoenician, Greek, Roman,
Visigoth and Moorish. On an adjacent mountain is the city of Mojacar,
which has been inhabited, beginning with the Moors, since the end of
the thirteenth century.
Wilson says, "It was a fascinating time to be at Mojacar. The
history of that place coincides in so many ways with the history of
the Americas. In 1488, the Jews and Moors were expelled from the entire
region of Andalucia by the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella,
who claimed their region in the name of Christianity. This was happening
immediately before Columbus arrived in the West Indies and began exploiting
Native labor and resources and claiming that territory for Spain. Still
today, there are land disputes between Spain and Morocco. I found this
history and the beautiful landscape fertile ground for my poetry and
have written the first draft of what I hope will become a book of poems
from Mojacar."
Wilson was one of three artists from the United States in residency
at Valparaiso during July. There were also three artists from Spain,
one from the Philippines and one from Venezuela.
Photo: l to r: Esther Pizarro (sculptor), Pilar Parra (director),
Kristoffer Ardena (painter), Rossy Finol (painter), Rafael Garcia Forcada
(painter), Elizabeth Faulhaber (sculptor), Norma Wilson (poet), Joseph
Green (poet), and Almudena Fernandez Farina (painter). For further
information, contact Norma Wilson, 605-624-9279