DARRAN ANDERSON
A view of the river Foyle, from Grianán hillfort, which defines part of the Irish border. Counties Londonderry and Tyrone in Northern Ireland are to the left of the river, and County Donegal in the Republic lies to the right
Crossing the border between Northern Ireland and the south, it’s sometimes difficult to tell when you leave the kingdom and enter the Republic. The traffic signs are different and there are subtle clues too in the changing colour of road markings and even the texture of the asphalt. Your mobile phone will slip in and out of networks for several miles. The feeling is of one country fading indistinguishably into another. All around, there are signs of the activities that thrive in liminal places; petrol stations and shops taking advantage of the differences in tax and exchange rates, skid marks on the roads from jurisdictionescaping joyriders, a hand-painted advertisement offering illegal “Red Diesel for Sale” discarded in a ditch.