Emma Russell

Being able to understand our home is fundamental when attempting to understand ourselves, as our homes influence and are influenced by our identities. Although we often think of home as our house, it is possible to describe home as more of a feeling than a construction. It is a unique and personal, and therefore, undefinable space, a stronghold of security. Working against this safe space however is placelessness, a factor of our ever-changing environments, and a challenge as to what we can pinpoint as home. Since identity and home are interconnected, placelessness threatens our sense of identity. 

I have moved between my birthplace of Donegal and my university town of Dundee intermittently, and I have become accustomed to the feeling of placelessness. With one channel filmed in Donegal and the other filmed in Dundee, the film explores my particular correlation of home and identity. It offers two distinct definitions of home, one being a connection with the land, and one being a connection with people. Through sequences of conversations and colour, the film attempts to tie together these two places I have called home.

Guarding the exhibition are two cat figurines, mirroring each other like the two screens of the film. My cats are a common motif in my work, symbolising my connection with the family home. In this case they are solidified as antiques, brought over from Donegal to be enjoyed in Dundee.