MHIYH

My Home Is Your Home, 2022 -
Art Installation

Welcoming strangers into your home was a sacred duty in ancient Greece and the Middle East due to a belief that visitors could be gods or angels in disguise. Upholding this custom also assured that hospitality would be reciprocated when you were in need. At a time when fear and distrust of people who are politically, racially, or religiously other than “us” is at an extreme, the installation My Home Is Your Home evokes ancient practices of hospitality by offering a homey, welcoming space of belonging to all visitors. It includes furnishings, plants, and LP records from my home, an immersive array of art in a variety of mediums, and opportunities to relax and relate in a playful atmosphere. The diverse contents and social quality of the installation invite visitors to become “relationship makers” who realize connections between the artworks, the objects, and each other, a practice that may help build a world in which my home is yours and yours is mine - regardless of our differences.

My Home Is Your Home is an evolving work designed to be re-staged in multiple locations. It’s site-specific in the sense that artworks and furnishings are selected and configured in response to a particular venue and new contents added for each iteration. In keeping with the aura of positive interrelationship evoked by the show, a collaborative team of artists improvises each version of the installation. As the team intuitively creates synergy out of disparate parts, we develop a much needed human capacity: the ability to act together towards our mutual fulfillment and well being.

Pictured below: My Home Is Your Home at M Galleries PNA, Washington, NJ, June 2022. All artwork by Nova *
This arrangement of the installation was improvised in collaboration with Elie Porter Trubert.