Where the past exists, the future may flourish or take me home
"For our house is our corner of the world... It is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word." Gaston Bachelard
To be at home is to be safe, to be relaxed, to be refreshed. Home gives us the time to reconnect with our identity. Our home can be a sanctuary; it can be a place for us to laugh, to cry and to love. It’s our own private nest, our retreat after a long day, our soft place to fall when we need it the most. Surrounded by our treasures and our memories we can be assured of our true self, for our homes reflect the values that we hold dear to us and the values that we aspire to have in ourselves. A home acts as an anchor, providing us with a place to gather our thoughts and emotions, giving us reassurance to approach a new day.
The notion of the ‘home’, originated in the Netherlands in the 17th century; prior to that there was little distinction between the public and private spheres. In the years since, the meaning of home has not changed a great deal, as what it provides us is essentially the same thing; it serves our functional needs, though arguably, it is the emotional needs that are far more significant.
For my series, Where the past exists, the future may flourish, I photographed different people in their homes. I asked the sitter to do whatever they would do if they were by themselves at home, had nowhere to be and nothing particular to do. My hope was to make the sitter feel as comfortable and as natural as they could be and, in doing so, my images would communicate the feeling my subjects get when they return home; the feeling of being at ease, free to be completely and unapologetically themselves.
The images are far from exotic. Rather, they are humble scenes of domesticity, things everyone does but no one else sees. Through my images, the viewer is given the privilege of experiencing an intimate view of a very private space. The images in this series explore what home means to different people, from different backgrounds and with different values and interests. On a personal level, the process of making this series has given me the opportunity to get to know the sitters, my friends and family, on a deeper, more personal level. They have allowed me into their worlds, their headspace, and my understanding of who they are has been heightened, and I have a better understanding of what home means to me.
After many tiresome months of work on this series, I can't wait to go home and do nothing.