Distant

The horizon is a visual example of a distance that is physically unreachable. In this document, I define the horizon as both a metaphoric place where longing resides and also a physical site that can be seen. In other words, the horizon is an in-between space that we can perceive, but never physically reach. I believe that this is where longing resides. Longing for people, places, things, or communities that are somehow lost or unreachable. My work is adding to the discussions currently taking place around home, identity/belonging, and broader discussions of displacement within society. We are in interesting times, where technology has taken over our daily lives and our own hands have lost touch with the fabrics of our heritage, leaving us longing for connections we no longer understand. That is where my practice lives, within the distance between physical and metaphorical, interpersonal and introspective. Through the use of hand labor, familial skills and craft processes I am able to connect to the in between space where longing resides, allowing myself the ability to reconnect with people, places, and culture missed. The relationship between my body, the land, and traditional processes has pushed my own understanding of longing in relation to my cultural and societal identity.