BeLonging.
BeLonging. The Work of Indira Freitas Johnson explores the expansive and multifaceted issue of “Belonging” that runs through race, religion, ethnicity, philosophy, and sexual orientation.
The word ‘Belonging’ is a heavy word fraught with contradictions and dichotomies. It brings to mind questions of home, homeland and displacement which arise in multiple ways on the global terrain. As an immigrant one is always slightly out of context in this society. There are certain histories that I will never be a part of, while I am inextricably linked to others. Even my past is closed to me: the place where I came from where I thought I belonged, no longer exists. What is left instead is a wished-for reality of that past place, and the real place where I exist today. Neither quite fits as one is reminded by an often asked question Where are you really from? Who gets to decide who belongs where? And is where here or elsewhere?
I have turned this query around and instead asked a series of equally provoking questions. Where do I want to belong? Is ‘home’ the place where we belong? If so, how do we define ‘home '? Is it a physical space, or simply a feeling of comfort, of belonging? Belonging means a connectedness to a group, family, community, nature. Exploring these concepts of self and belonging brings up related issues like attachment, rejection, regeneration, all of which surface in different ways in my work.
The word ‘Belonging’ is a heavy word fraught with contradictions and dichotomies. It brings to mind questions of home, homeland and displacement which arise in multiple ways on the global terrain. As an immigrant one is always slightly out of context in this society. There are certain histories that I will never be a part of, while I am inextricably linked to others. Even my past is closed to me: the place where I came from where I thought I belonged, no longer exists. What is left instead is a wished-for reality of that past place, and the real place where I exist today. Neither quite fits as one is reminded by an often asked question Where are you really from? Who gets to decide who belongs where? And is where here or elsewhere?
I have turned this query around and instead asked a series of equally provoking questions. Where do I want to belong? Is ‘home’ the place where we belong? If so, how do we define ‘home '? Is it a physical space, or simply a feeling of comfort, of belonging? Belonging means a connectedness to a group, family, community, nature. Exploring these concepts of self and belonging brings up related issues like attachment, rejection, regeneration, all of which surface in different ways in my work.