What does HOME mean to you?

My work in this exhibition centers around the idea of home. In this body of work, home is not just a place but a person, a feeling, and a state of mind. A sense of restlessness is evident in the works shown. This is to reflect the idea that you can inhabit many different places while looking for somewhere to metaphorically plant roots.

I was inspired by attending Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts this last summer, as I was introduced to many artists who all came from different backgrounds. I realized the importance of my personal story and that I should create art which is unique to that experience. My work is informed and inspired by artists such as Ceirra Evans and Edward Hopper by the way I explore family dynamics and architectural spaces.

The artworks I have selected for this show interpret various aspects of home through different emotions and points of my adolescence. Working with the space I was given, I chose to spread out my pieces horizontally and create an interactive work that sets up the conceptual framework of the exhibition. This interactive work is set on the left side so viewers can chronologically follow the pieces from left to right. The interactive piece is a large sign that says, “What does HOME mean to you,” and asks viewers to take a gift tag from the wall, answer the question, and place it back on the wall by thumbtack. The sign is framed by a map of my home state, Kentucky.

On the expansive wall which contains my curated art works, I have thoughtfully placed maps of different parts of my state which I call ‘home,’ and the works overtop of these maps according to the ideation of the pieces. The location on the maps correspond to the works they are near. Moving from left to right, the maps lead to my future home and final destination of adolescence—the city in which I will attend college.

Video installations appear on both ends of the wall, resembling bookends. The installations are projections of my animated works, Memoire and Make-Believe. Each of these works contain a ringing sound in the background, but only one is audible so as to not distract the viewer. To emphasize the works and create visual distinction from the wall, I used a piece of white matboard to resemble a canvas and contain the projection.

The other works I have selected for this show are two-dimensional paintings with mediums varying between oil, acrylic, and gouache. Because my intention is to showcase the struggle of looking for a concrete home, some works, such as They’re Always Watching, Lizzie Through the Looking Glass, Rodgers, and Main Street contain purposeful texture to convey distress.

I arranged the works on the wall to create visual balance regarding size, color, and conceptual value. I chose pieces that are linked by a common color palette of gray, green, blue, maroon, and violet. The arrangement of works overall creates a loose shape of the state of Kentucky, amplifying the meaning of the exhibition with the establishment of ‘home.’

My overall vision for presenting this body of work is to showcase snapshots of what ‘home’ has meant to me in different parts of my life and to encourage the idea that ‘home’ is ever-changing. A home is a safe haven and place of comfort and as we change, so do our homes. My intention is to suggest that even though this change is met with much trepidation, it is a natural part of life and we should learn to embrace it.

I hope that the viewer may enjoy experiencing my outlook on the subject and at the same time reflect on what ‘home’ means to them.