Places like home

Places like home is a web and flash based work which explores the psychological notion of home. It questions the meaning of home and its associations with experience, memory and identity. It was produced as part of a project titled In da haus, for Canberra Contemporary Art Space in 2002.

places like home

This work forms an interactive narrative that is activated by the user, who chooses links in the text of the story. Patterns existing in the ' back end' structure of the site change as the site is navigated. The story is based on a number of key words that echo throughout the site. This navigation is also a visual patterning of images relating to the text.

The place we live and the objects that become precious to us, become so because of our attachment to memories of significant events in the past that make us feel 'at home'. These are treasured moments worth remembering, and often objects — keepsakes and souvenirs operate as proxies or stand-ins for that experience.

Home is the epicenter of experience; it represents us on a daily level. We surround ourselves not only with the necessities of life like food; we also adorn our homes with objects that make us feel comfortable, familiar and safe. However, it is not the material that makes us safe; rather, it is the emotional value we invest in the object. A material object is ultimately more precious if it has sentimental value.

Home on the WWW is a slightly different, though very relevant concept. Online home is also known as index, simply put — the place where you categorise, label and organise all your stuff.

It is a means of structure and organisation, like the home, particularly the notion of family and the mapping of genealogies that create the structural fabric of human social life. This structure is a form of patterning — that is presented in our genes, in our behaviour and in the materials that surround us on a daily basis.

The concept of home has shifted significantly in the last two hundred years, from a familial connection to a place through ties that are generational, to a contemporary transient society that often recognises home symbolically rather than concretely.

Given the current realities of displaced people around the world, the notion of home to which we are familiar is a luxury indeed.

Places like home was, in technical and conceptual terms, quite similar to Highway of shame. This site was also built with HTML, CSS and was comprised of hypertext, digital still and moving images. The difference with this work was the focus on a metaphorical notion of home, rather than an event that was about displaced people.