I Miss My Home addresses repetitive nature of history, as well as fragility of time and identity, both personal and collective. It is a reflection on the impact that displacement, unfamiliar and loss can have on a child and their development, as well as on shaping their perception of the world they live in.

Leaving one’s homeland either in pursuit of happiness and better life or escaping political oppressions and wars is as true today as it was 100 years ago. It is not easy for an adult to find themselves displaced. But what about a child? How does a child cope with a constant flux of today’s uncertain world? How does witnessing the world of violence, anger and lack of stability can affect a child today and later on in their adulthood?

I place myself in the video (an image of a six-year-old girl) to address and draw on human emotions related to vulnerability, fragility, displacement, and loss. A six-year-old child left on her own, with no explanation, confused and lost in the vastness of wilderness of what used to be a familiar environment, but now has become a distant, cold and ever changing bare landscape. The only reminder and connection to the world she knew are her mother’s shoes that serve here as a subtle metaphor for a constant flux and complexities of today’s world that a child finds themselves a part of.

Credits:
*An image of (Emigrants [at Ellis Island], two Italian kids) and (Emigrants [at Ellis Island] awaiting examination) taken from the Europeana repository of cultural artefacts.
Source:
exhibitions.europeana.eu/exhibits/show/europe-america-en/the-homeland-of-migrating-grou/item/665
exhibitions.europeana.eu/exhibits/show/europe-america-en/departure-and-arrival/item/731

*Sound:
Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849)
Nocturne, Op.9 No.2
Violin with orchestra, Arranged
europeana.eu/portal/en/record/2059201/data_sounds_68417.html?q=TYPE%3ASOUND

*Text - excerpt from "Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl"