From here to there
Project details
- Year
- 2023
- Programme
- Bachelor – Spatial Design
- Practices
- Social
- Minor
- Cultural Diversity
From here to there addresses the experience of reinhabiting home, considering the processes of disorientation and (re)orientation it can ignite. It specifically sheds light on the experience of Brazilian women from the cities of Fortaleza and Salvador now residing in the Netherlands. The interest in this theme came from my own sensations of disorientation as I too extend over this space. Ambivalent feelings of wanting to belong, to forget, and to remember were perceived: a movement of feeling sometimes here, sometimes there.
I wondered: what is my home made of? What is part of me? Objects, so many, filled my thoughts. Objects of today and yesterday. Memories of long ago; of feelings, flavors, scents, colors so dear to me. The methodology to conduct the interview was based on the understanding that bodily life floods over into objects and spaces. I collected in a box things that reminded me of home. A box of things, a box of home, a box of me. It was also the methodology I found to access the orientations of other women toward objects, the familiarities, the memories and their meanings of home. I explained: this is my box, but what would your box look like? And we continued.
The presence of Brazilian elements in daily life was seen as a necessity: to feel a bit more there was seen as a way of regrounding.
The hammock has a strong presence in the Brazilian-northeastern domestic environment. It is often used as a bed replacement. In Portuguese, a hammock is a rede, which can also be translated as a net, or web. This work became a net of memories: fragments of (past) homes; small sources of orientation here. It addresses the theme of migration and its effects through affection. It also provides an intersectional look into the theme of migration, as I am specific in considering the experience of Brazilian women. Like this, it deepens the understanding of the multifaceted nature of migration narratives, filling a gap I encountered myself when researching this theme. This work is also a way for me to extend over space.
Others are too welcome in this rede; to feel emboldened to hear other voices; to reflect; to feel welcomed and cared for in this piece of home. This work is about unfolding memories, and feeling they rock and move one’s body from here to there.
