With huge thanks to the Gibsons Public Art Gallery and Canada Council for the Arts for putting their confidence in me, I can FINALLY announce that w h a t . h o m e will be coming home to BC, where it all began.
In 2017 I began interviewing residents of BC's west coast on the subject of 'home'. I had some idea of where the topics might go, but I was surprised again and again by the amazingly heart-full, extremely unexpected, and often challenging stories that emerged. I've discovered through this work and other interview-based projects I've done that in any cross-section of humanity there will be a deep exploration of belonging, and a desire to make the best of always surprising circumstances. This project puts this on display.
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| w h a t . h o m e installation in Amsterdam -- photo by Igor Sevcuk |
The woman in this image went from living as a small child in a mud hut in Mexico to living in a mansion. She now resides with her partner and children in British Columbia, and has a lot of experience with our housing crisis, particularly as it applies to those whose mobility is challenged.
I've spoken with people who live rough on boats, who rent and live always on the verge of homelessness, who own property and who feel that property ownership is wrong. I've interviewed a woman who doesn't believe in citizenship, and immigrants who treasure theirs. Our experiences and struggles with home are as diverse as we are, and yet the conversation always comes down to the same thing: belonging.
I felt such a good sense of belonging in 2018 when I developed the videos into an installation at Goleb in Amsterdam with Igor Sevcuk, with whom I attended art school, in the 1990's. He invited me to complete this project during a residency, and I was grateful for his and other artists' input in the development of the installation. This experience itself was such a gift to me! I spent time with my old friend Igor, his wonderful artist partner Go Eun Im, my own partner and assistant Markus Roemer, and developed a project that means so much to me, in the country where I first studied art. I've never been truly at home in the Netherlands, despite having quite a bit of family and history there. But this experience reminded me of the things that make us home: community, acceptance, and a feeling that what we do has value. This project is all of that for me.
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| Igor and Markus during installation. |
Would you like to see more? Well you can! Over the months leading up to the Gibsons installation of w h a t . h o m e I'll be sharing some of the clips from the project via these two feeds:
w h a t . h o m e instagram feed
w h a t . h o m e YouTube channel
Please do follow along; share with your communities, and of course... come to the installation in February, where you can walk among the landscapes and people of our west coast and add your own silhouette and stories to the project.
Gibsons Public Art Gallery, Gibsons, BC, Canada
Feb 9--Mar 5, 2023
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien.
https://canadacouncil.ca
