Hiraeth (noun.): a deep yearning for something, someone, or somewhere. A homesickness for a home you cannot return to, a home which maybe never was, the lost places of your past, and a home you have never been.

What is a home? For someone struggling with homelessness, it’s a roof over their head. For someone thousands of miles away from their homeland, it may be the familiar scent of a childhood meal. For those in an abusive relationship or a chaotic household, home is somewhere they find peace and calmness. Home might mean friendship, connections, and communities for those who recently relocated.

This exhibition invites the audience to redefine the home concept with the artists. While feeble and potentially fruitless, each artist uses their chosen medium to visualize an ideal home. Some pieces interrogate the cruel irony behind homes curated by realtors and interior designers as our community struggles with a worsening housing crisis and homeless epidemy; some capture the brief moments of peace and tranquility that “felt like home.” Some pieces explore space-making in architecture and structure; others collage tokens from their past into sentimental memorials.

With participating artists of different age groups, ethnicity, immigration status, and sexual orientation, “Hiraeth: A Feeble Attempt to Visualize a Home” interrogates the multiple elements an individual requires to feel at home and how the reality is such as the struggle for many: BIPOC, queer, minority, and low-income community members struggle with affordable housing, equal housing opportunities, and accessible resources; personal and collective memories, as well as histories and cultures, are lost during massive re-developments and gentrifications; migrants, diasporas, and immigrants struggle with lacking senses of belonging in the Midwest, especially suburban and rural midwest.

What is a home?