Haimaz, Heimr, Hjem, Heem, Hām, Home

Haimaz, Heimr, Hjem, Heem, Hām, Home seeks to explore the notion of homes that are real, constructed, remembered, displaced, damaged, and imagined through the lens of the Old English word hām, which refers to a place where many souls are gathered.

In a time of cultural, political, economic, environmental, and psychological ‘home’ instability for many, and as people emerge from homes where they were isolated post-pandemic, this topic feels particularly timely. Home can be both a social and cultural construct that is influenced by family, community, geography, economics, politics, and personal experiences. For some, it is a physical space of comfort, refuge, and safety. Home can also be a feeling, a sense of belonging and connection within a community, or it can be a site of danger, longing, loneliness, confinement, trauma, or displacement.

The artists in this exhibition challenge traditional and fixed notions of home by addressing issues of housing affordability, gentrification, urbanization, migration, security, accessibility, and sustainability. They also explore the emotional and psychological aspects of home, illustrating the complex relationships we have with the places we live in and the people we share them with. They ask us to see home as something more flexible and fluid, question progress and displacement, and shift our understanding of home and what gathering could mean in our personal and collective lives.

Participating Artists
Willie Baronet; Epicenter; Erin Fostel; Omar Imam; Tonika Johnson; Courtney Kessel; Niko Krivanek; Calista Lyon; Frank Poor; Hrair Sarkissian; Roscoè B. Thické III; Simparch; Tracey Snelling