“Home, the spot of earth supremely blest, a dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest” – Robert Montgomery
As part of an exhibition entitled ‘Mawtini’ by @tashkeelstudio, I put forth two installations – This is It and Pickles.
Mawtini in Arabic means My Home, thus my installation ‘This is It’ was an effort to explore the subject of call through the eyes of an Expat. We are on the move looking for stability at many levels from a place. Being several years away from our homeland deciphering the meaning of home, which might be something more than a physical shelter and provides roots, identity, security, a sense of belonging, and a place of emotional well-being.
I have known that just like me, folks who move from place to place learn to use their creativity to create stability. Despite the external chaos of starting from scratch we learn to seek adventure, and curiosity and develop the ability to reinvent ourselves time and again. This personal space of nesting is almost ritualistic, built twig by twig, a sacred space for the body, soul, and spirit to call home.
My concept of home is associated with Pickles. As expats, pickles are key to our memories of home. That is why pickles were also a center stage in my exhibition – symbolic of the flavors and colors of home. We transcend through the various stages of getting pickles from home till we are comfortable with the available pickles locally.