Performance / Installation / Video

2021
As humans, we tend to have strong emotional connections with certain objects in our house that make us feel at home, for example, one’s spot at the dining table, a favorite pillow to sleep on, or a preferred side of the bed. That said, could we make ‘home’ possible with those little things wherever we are? Do we become subservient to those things and get so emotionally attached, that it hurts when those things break or vanish? Even if we do get attached to them, they are there to help us get through something difficult in life. With them, we create our ‘bubble’ where we feel safe, and it gives us comfort. Besides the importance of material objects, I am examining the value of rituals and sensory input as they highly contribute to the creation of a domestic space. In my graduation project, I had various qualitative interviews with people from the former Yugoslavia diaspora in the Netherlands about their interpretation of the home, as they have often experienced separation from home, anxiety, and assimilation into new spaces. From these interviews, I created performances in public space that translate a transformative and personal experience of a situation (an interviewee’s story) into domestic space. Instead of merely using the interviewee’s stories as they are, I intertwined my perception of their behavior, lifestyle, and surroundings. I’ve included the onlooker’s perspective, utilized by slow looking/observation. As well as turning objects into a conceptualized new form but with the same sensual meaning and emotional connection. All these questions are derived from my embodied knowledge and questioning myself about identity, belonging, and struggle.




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