In a time of worldwide mobility, global migration and subsequent cultural blending, our understanding of what makes us feel at home has become more significant. What do we call home, and what determines our sense of belonging? Is home simply a house – a place where we grew up? Firstly, I studied different perceptions and interpretations of the concept of home and analysed the perspectives of leading experts in contemporary art and architectural phenomenology. Secondly, using an autobiographical approach combined with a practice-based art methodology, I investigated my perception of home in relation to my culture and its traditions. Furthermore, I analysed my own experiences, memories and the places related to what I call ‘home’ to understand how those experiences and memories mould our sense of home and belonging. In this study, I question how the concept of ‘home’ can be researched through artistic practice. Thus, my creative process employs a practice-based method that focuses on material experimentation to create metaphors related to specific perspectives about home. This research utilises ‘processes and methodologies of artistic research as the production of knowledge’ and demonstrates, as stated by Bolt, that ‘knowledge is derived from doing’. Through this research, I have developed a body of work that can connect to and communicate with the audience, facilitating a dialogue about what home individually means to us. The methods used in this research range from embroidery, video and photography to drawing, painting and sculpting. Moreover, the creative process employs Donald Schön’s ‘model of reflection’, which comprises two types: reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. The research process, progress and findings can be best experienced by looking at the body of work I created during this PhD research. The present research sits within the field of fine arts and draws on architectural phenomenology and contemporary art from the perspective of an artistic practice-based practitioner. Within the field of contemporary art, I have primarily examined the work of artists Louise Bourgeois, Do Ho Suh, and Rachel Whiteread. I have studied the work of architects and theorists Juhani Pallasmaa and Norberg-Schulz, as well as philosopher Gaston Bachelard, within the field of architectural phenomenology. I concluded that our sense of home is not bound to a certain place and is not limited by geography, but that our sense of home can take almost any form, even for a brief moment, such as when I felt at home surrounded by seascapes and skyscapes from a helicopter journey through childhood memories to experiences of loss and grief. The feeling of being at home may involve repetitive actions, such as remembering how to use a specific embroidery stitch (Nest, 2017; I am homesick but I am at home, 2018; and out of place, 2018) or following traditional methods to collect and preserve seeds (Seeds House, 2018–2021). It can be a certain type of wind (Wind Diaries, 2021) or the mist of a foggy day (Skyscape III (in memory of those foggy days), 2019–2020). This research offers an understanding that what each one of us perceives as ‘home’ takes an individual form that influences the various ways we are capable of belonging and making ourselves ‘at home’. These research findings assert that ‘home’ is not merely a physical location; it is a deeply experiential and existential concept that shapes our understanding of what it means to truly be ‘at home’. This research challenges the traditional notion of home as a fixed place. Instead, it highlights our capacity as individuals to find or create a sense of home in language, meteorological conditions, transitional spaces, places, diverse cultural contexts and evolving life circumstances.
Permanent link to this resource: https://doi.org/10.24384/8crc-fh22
Rodriguez Beltran, Blanca
Supervisors: Lee, Ray; Howard, Janice
School of Arts
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