What does home mean for you?

HOME: Where We Live.

A photo exhibition

MPLS Photo Center

5.10 – 6.23

Photo: Ryan Huggett Photography

The meaning of home evokes strong emotions in each of us, yet there are many different ways to think about the  word.   There is the tangible of home: the rooms, the decor, the windows, the nook for reading, and the space where family gathers.  There is home as a collector: keeping our books, our souvenirs from life, and our coveted photographs. Home is sometimes simply defined as people, and sometimes it is memories: nostalgic scenes of what our presence was at a point in time.   And these are just to name a few.

Earlier this year, the Minneapolis Photo Center put out a call for entries that fall under the theme 'HOME: Where We Live.'  A title that appears very straight forward, defining home within itself.  What  resulted is a collection of 70 photographs that juror David Fraher describes as , 'powerfully, and yet quietly exploring the diverse meanings and aspects of home.”

Powerful, it is, as it reinforces that the idea of home is universal.  Walking through the gallery, there is not a single photo that does not trigger something in my brain, a strong tug, and expectedly, a coinciding emotion.  Even if it is not something relative of my own experiences or my own thoughts, it resonates with each of us.  Through the serene compositions of the photos you are reminded of your own ideas of home, as you catch a glimpse into someone else's. 

The importance of home and its many meanings is not lost on us at Building Arts. We work with home every day and we are constantly thinking about all of its aspects.  We also understand, that for many people we work with, home is something they are striving for, and is yet to be discovered.  They can't particularly define it, but there are certain attributes they are sure it must have. Creating home is a discovery process.  So ask yourself,

What does home mean for you?

Scan your memories, think about what it means now, and what would it ideally mean for you.  We would love to hear your answers.  Please comment below, and in the meantime go to the Minneapolis Photo Center and visit the exhibition, which is on display through June 23rd, and start a thought process on what home is for you.

Below I detailed a few of my favorite photographs in the exhibition.

- Three children lounge, comfortably juxtaposed on a sun-washed couch.  They all are very close to each other, even though the couch is large, they are stacked on one end.  The boy laying across the back of the couch plays on a phone, the older girl has a closed laptop on her lap, and the younger girl sits on the arm, and peers over her shoulder.  A tall stack of books in the corner looks over them, seemingly protective.

- There is a couple standing in a kitchen, she has the red dot on her forehead signifying, in their culture, she is married. He is wearing a dhaka on his head, and he has a white t shirt on, in the center of it is a  large blue 'American Idol' logo.  On the table is a 'Land 'o' Lakes' tub.  They stand close to one another.

- There is a winter tent, illuminated from the inside, surrounded by darkness.  The fresh snow on the ground shows the many tracks in and out of the tent.  Smoke rises from a pipe sticking out of the tent, it rises up against the outline of the familiar trees of northern Minnesota, up past the familiar constellations of the Minnesota winter sky and to the moon, full, illuminating the smoke and gleaming back down on the tent and its tracks.

Photo: Ryan Huggett Photography, 2013  Minneapolis, Minnesota