Exhibition at Bryne Art Association (NO)

TO COME HOME 

Text by Magda Line, Leader Bryne Art Association (NO)

Bryne kunstforening is proud to present Urdal’s exhibition. She is both an artist and an anthropologist, and this clearly shows in her work. Her interest in people and how we live in harmony and conflict is evident in several of the works. Her gaze is warm and curious, and it lingers on how we are, as people, and how we function together.

The exhibition “To Come Home” by  Christine Urdal is on view in the month of May at Bryne kunstforening. The exhibition primarily consists of photos, but also includes objects and text. 

Several of her images might seem hazy at first glance, like a mist was covering them. You might sense that there are things there, which are not all that clear. The images can give you a sense of remembering something. A memory of a home; a place; a dream. 

Home is often associated with something safe:

-finally I am coming home

-it will be good to be back home

-he returned home in the end

-she relaxed at home

Home is the place where you relax, wear your pajama pants, remove your bra, let the belly hang out, and put your feet up.
Home is the place where you can laugh and cry. 

Home is the place where you can be yourself, where you can dare to think new thoughts, and have opinions of your own. Home is the place where a teenager can let their hormones run wild, bang the door, and not be afraid that the ones who hear it will no longer care for them. 

Home is where you want to be when things are bad and you are overcome with anxiety.
Home is where you lie under the covers, and do not want to leave, or to see anyone else. 

Home is sanctuary. 

Finally I am coming home. 

But what about those who no longer have a home to return to? What about the ones who have had to flee their homes because of war? What do they dream of? Where is home? 

Is it the memory of what once was? Where can the ones fleeing their homes be at home? Where can they relax, put their feet up, and no longer be constantly on guard? 

In Urdal’s exhibition we can speculate on these questions. We might not find answers to all of them, but we might see that coming home, in many ways, provides us with a common understanding of what home might be.