The exhibition
A group photography exhibition titled “Home: A Photographic Outlook” opened on November 10, 2022, and it will be on view there through February 6, 2023. This exhibition, which featured works by six students, was made possible with the assistance of Professor Dr. Ali Shobeiri. The goal of this exhibition was to portray the “sense of home.” While most of us have a roof over our heads, do we see that as our home? For many people, being at home might mean different things. It can take many different shapes, including a person, a place, an activity, or anything small that can make someone feel more at home.
Hotels and vacation spots make an effort to give guests a “home feeling” since it makes a person comfortable. Home is where you feel comfortable and secure, and the members of the photography class chose to capture this in their own unique way.
Artificiality of home
One of the students’ ideas was to use artificial equipment, such as the Hortus Botanicus. I wasn’t sure about the connection between the artwork and the concept at first, but after speaking with the artist herself, it made sense. Looking back, this is perhaps the artwork that I was able to connect with the best.
This piece was inspired by some of the plants in Hortus Botanicus that require special care due to their unique nature. Some plants and flowers in the Botanicus are unable to survive in Dutch weather since they were never used to it from the start. They need special equipment in order for them to survive here. these might include some expenses such as greenhouse heaters, heated propagators, watering equipment and so much more. This equipment may fool plants into believing they are still where they came from or where they were “meant” to be, but it does not work the same way on humans. This statement certainly has exceptions, but from personal experience, I believe that a sense of home can be sought to incorporate in unfamiliar areas, but it always needs something that’s missing most of the time.
What is home for you?
There will never be enough spices and meals from my neighbourhood Asian grocery store to make my pantry feel complete. But, for the time being, it helps me feel at ease. When I think of home, the first thing that comes to mind is speaking in my native language. Thanks to globalisation, I can find many people who speak my language, and sometimes meeting individuals at bus stops and striking up a discussion to discover that they know a little bit of your language is a good place to start. Purchasing groceries that I cannot obtain at Aldi, Jumbo, or Albert Heijn makes me feel at ease, but at what cost? Let me clarify. It costs twice as much as usual.
There are always such disparities that are very understandable. Living away from the place you once called “home” and is not easy, however, giving the new location a small portion of that ‘home’ is always welcomed. Some minor acts make me feel at home, some individuals make me feel at home, and some music makes me feel at home as well, and if I have time away from academics, I try to reconnect with those in as many ways as possible. This could be accomplished by calling a friend who also lives far away, cooking, attending cultural fests or in a variety of different ways.
It is very much urged to keep the artificial home-feeling equipment in handy, but also to learn to adapt to various conditions and evolve as a human. Maybe ask others what they like to call ‘home’, listening to other people describe their ‘home’ is free therapy.
Hi, Thank you for sharing your post! It is interesting to study how something or someone making you feel at home works physiologically. Personally, for me the subjectivity around what makes something feel like home for me is kinda all over the place. Moreover, what does feeling at home exactly feel for someone, I think I struggle a bit with how that feels. Interesting conversation starter tho!
It is indeed an intertesting conversation starter. Depending on various experiences one has had in life, the conversation can anywhere!