I just want to keep
Watercolor on paper
2023
Watercolor on paper
2023
What effect has the loss of the familiar architecture of migrants’ homes had on their sense of identity? Equally, what effect has settling in the new built environment had on their well-being?
I just want to keep was made in collaboration with with the Refugee Dream Center, a resettlement agency founded and run by refugees in Providence, Rhode Island. For two months, I was welcomed into the homes of two Syrian families through volunteering to teach them English. I also frequented the center, grew closer with the staff and occasionally joined in their programming. I invited them to draw maps from memory with me, of neighborhoods lived and loved.I listened closely for clues on how they adapted to their new environment, and what traces of home they still carried. At the end of each day I took home the fragments of our conversations and reimagined them with my own brush. This led to a series of paintings that operate as a portrait of their experience of change.
I just want to keep was made in collaboration with with the Refugee Dream Center, a resettlement agency founded and run by refugees in Providence, Rhode Island. For two months, I was welcomed into the homes of two Syrian families through volunteering to teach them English. I also frequented the center, grew closer with the staff and occasionally joined in their programming. I invited them to draw maps from memory with me, of neighborhoods lived and loved.I listened closely for clues on how they adapted to their new environment, and what traces of home they still carried. At the end of each day I took home the fragments of our conversations and reimagined them with my own brush. This led to a series of paintings that operate as a portrait of their experience of change.
I just want to keep
Single-channel video, 2 mins 11 seconds, color, sound, canvas paper strips
2023
To elaborate on this transitional phase in their lives, I wove the paintings together in a stop motion animation. I printed all of the paintings on heavy duty canvas paper, cut them into strips then interlaced them together while the refugees recounted their stories. The various places and memories mesh together all creating a disorienting experience where connotations of place are inextricably linked. The title, “I just want to keep”, refers to a phrase by a refugee I interviewed as she searched for the right words to express her desire to preserve her memory of home.
