For our last assignment, we have been asked to on ‘The Notion of Home’. Because most of us have recently moved away from home to university we are asked to consider what we would call home and express that in a collection of six images.
I started by looking at the definition of home and what home means, I came across an article by the Smithsonian Institution (an American historical, cultural and scientific museums and research centres). The article ‘The Definition of Home’ by Verlyn Klinkenborg, caught my eye with the subheading, it stated “It’s more than just a place, its also an idea – one where the heart is”.
- For much of the earliest history of our species, home may have been nothing more than a small fire and the light it cast on a few familiar faces, surrounded perhaps by the ancient city-mounds of termites. But whatever else home is—and however it entered our consciousness—it’s a way of organizing space in our minds. Home is home, and everything else is not-home. That’s the way the world is constructed.
- Not that you can’t feel “at home” in other places. But there’s a big psychological difference between feeling at home and being home. Feeling at home on the Tiwi Islands or in Bangalore or Vancouver (if you are not native) is simply a way of saying that the not-home-ness of those places has diminished since you first arrived. Some people, as they move through their lives, rediscover home again and again. Some people never find another after once leaving home. And, of course, some people never leave the one home they’ve always known.
This article seemed to be able to capture the way a felt about the subject of home and its last paragraph ended the article in same way.
- And there’s something more. When my father died, my brothers and sisters and I went back to his house, where he’d lived alone. It wasn’t only his absence we felt. It was as though something had vanished from every object in the house. They had, in fact, become merely objects. The person whose heart and mind could bind them into a single thing—a home—had gone.
Sometimes it can be a person or an object but no matter how small or big that one thing is, it can make a huge difference in what you call home and what you feel is home.
I found looking for artists who have covered the subject of home quite difficult, google kept throwing up photographers close to where I was instead of photos on a subject. But I do follow an Instagram account by the name of ‘LoveGreatBritian’, owned and operated by the website visit Britain, it reposts images by professionals and amateurs of places all over Britain. These images remind me of a home-feeling with landmarks, buildings, landscapes and weather shots remind me of everyday Britain and home.
I decided to email Kate, someone I met on social media, who’s a filmmaker – animator – photographer – writer and many other things. I asked her about her photography, the equipment she uses, techniques and also since she’s travelled around the world quite a lot her notion of home. she was only too happy help and email me back, you can also find some of her work on her website. http://www.katekneebone.com/photography-portfolio.html
References
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-definition-of-home-60692392/?no-ist
https://www.instagram.com/lovegreatbritain/?hl=en
http://www.katekneebone.com/photography-portfolio.html
Leave a comment