Home New World

Abstract

Home New World is a self-portrait that delves into the liminal space of my 13-year-old self recently arrived in a new country. My inspiration for this project stems from challenges in my current life, including fatherhood and ailing parents. These experiences led me to reexamine that transitional period of assimilation, recollecting memories of when everything around me appeared new and unfamiliar, almost as if I were being newly born. I believe that creating art through lived experiences, and drawing inspiration from the events that unfold in everyday life reveals a path toward self-transformation.My work consists of fragmented memories presented through a series of drawings and related floating objects in the form of mobiles, set within an environment of looping video projection and sound. Each drawing and its corresponding object carry significant personal anecdotes. In the gallery the objects move kinetically, mirroring the properties of memories: fading in and out, stacking on top of one another, and blending the forgotten with the remembered. Their shadows fall onto a looping carousel of painted suburban homes. This written thesis is structured to emulate the mobile organization of Home New World. Whereas writing unfolds sequentially, the experience of visual art is “all at once.” That is, often there is no prescribed entry point to the work. To remain authentic to my artwork, I have persisted in attempting to structure the written thesis to intuitively mimic the layered, fragmented, and disorienting aspects of my artwork. This memoir is composed of whimsical anecdotes strung together and interspersed with theoretical insights and artistic influences on my creative process. Each anecdote represents a memory associated with a significant object, revealing glimpses of the past. These stories weave together, fading in and out of focus, creating a non-chronological sequence that reflects my past life in contemplation of the present.?