Tanya Carney - Speaking of Home
I visited an exhibition entitled Speaking of Home by Nancy Ann Coyne. The exhibition was done by one person and included 23 separate pieces. They were all photographs that were installed in a high traffic walkway in Nicolet Mall. The pictures were translucent but not transparent. Above each of the photos the word home was written in a different language, one that corresponded to the country of origin of the person in the photograph.
The main theme of the exhibition was what home means and how places come to be a place to call home. Each of the 23 people represented in the photographs are individuals who emigrated from places all over the world to Minneapolis for various reasons ranging from fleeing political instability to unexpected natural disasters. Most of the photos contain one or two people one of whom the artist collaborated with. Through this collaboration the artist was able to obtain a photo and get an idea of why the person in the photo came to Minneapolis and how the move changed their lives. For example one of the photos is of a woman named Elsa Mekuria. Elsa was born and raised in Ethopia but decided to come to Minneapolis soon after she left high school due to political instability. The photo was one she took of herself and her son to leave with her family after she left. She said she came to the United States because she wanted to make a better life for her and her son and because here, as a woman, she would not be expected to stay at home and it was a place where her and her son could “make their own choices and follow their own dreams.�
I would definitely tell a friend about this exhibition. Each of the photos tells an interesting and unique story and helps to publicize the diversity that exists within Minneapolis.
