Home is

This project is an exploration of what home is and how the concept of home is shaped by immigration. I will be exploring what this means in the modern world in relation to identity and loss.

In this project I am working with a book my grandad wrote about his life as an archive. He was a refugee after the Second World War. He had to make a new life for himself in the UK, teaching himself English and finding employment. I will be exploring his experiences of displacement and the challenges he had when he had settled in the UK. 

When he was alive, he rarely talked about his experiences of his life before he moved to the UK. But he wanted us all to know about them, and so he communicated in the best way he could, through writing a book for us all to read.  

Photo transfer onto rice paper. Grandad’s house. 

 

Original text from Grandad’s book. Type written onto rice paper. 

Photo transfer onto rice paper. Railway tracks near the village. 

Original text from Grandad’s book. Type written onto rice paper. 

 

 

I have been working with text from his book, and finding parts which help me to understand him and his experiences better. He writes about his family in the book, and describes his mum in detail. 

Original text from Grandad’s book, embroidered onto cotton cloth. 

 

I have chosen to turn some of his words into embroidery. I was drawn to this process as it requires me to sit with his words for a prolonged period of time. As I embroider the sentence goes round and round in my head. It helps me to connect fully with his words and thing about the feelings that came up for him when he wrote them. 

Original text from Grandad’s book, embroidered onto cotton cloth. 

 

Unfortunately, after my grandad had to leave his village, he never saw his mum again, as he wasn’t able to return for a number of years, and sadly she had then died. He writes about how much she sacrificed for him and his siblings, and how he writes his book for her. 

 

I am working on lots of smaller pieces connected to this project. The embroidery pieces may be framed, or sewn together to make a larger piece. The details of this will emerge as the project grows. 

 

I am taking this project slowly, and will be working on it for the rest of 2022 as well as 2023. I will continue to update this page as I make more artwork connected to this project.