Nesting

While reading Reyna Grande’s book I couldn’t help but draw comparisons between my life and her’s while also seeing the oceans of space between our experiences. I am not an immigrant, I live just 30 minutes from the town I grew up in. I do however, understand the quest and desire for a stable and safe home. My parents divorced before I was old enough to remember, and I spent all of my childhood bouncing back and forth between houses. I know both my parents love me very much, but it didn’t make those transitions any easier. As an adult I find myself clinging to home whenever possible, wanting to spend holidays and specials times at home with my wife, not driving back and forth between family.

My artwork is always about identity, about the elements and experiences we collect and use as material in constructing the person we are ever changing into. In her book Reyna says “You are bilingual, bicultural, and binational. You are not less. You are more” and that resonated with. Everything we are, we become, and we experience adds to this pile. We can never be less because of what we experience, every experience gives us more. My design is of a sparrow, a New England Native. These birds build their nests from local plant life and scavenged items. These birds are collecting more, and using it to build save and loving homes. Just like all of us. You are more.