Beyond the Ninth Wave

A collaborative effort of the exiled to be heard, this project started in November 2023 and is ongoing. Contributions are used with written permission of the writers.

• The name of the project comes from the ancient practice in pre celtic Europe of placing a person who transgressed against society into a tiny boat called a coracle and abandoning them far out to sea - beyond the ocean’s ninth wave. The person would then either perish or by heroic effort make their way back to the shore. Those who survived this ordeal were said to have been judged worthy by the gods, and were welcomed back into society with open arms.

• The purpose of the project is to talk with our modern society’s exiles - those sent ‘beyond the ninth wave’ into institutions from which return is often even less certain than in ancient times. Our society makes no provisions for forgiveness, so often even such an unlikely victory as making it through ‘the system’ is only exchanging one pariah’s life for another. A society trapped in a cycle of endless punishment and ostracism slowly grinds away its own foundations and plunges into dysfunction. The project is my attempt to bring an answer …