‘Home’! It is a physical manifestation of our identity. As a built environment it is imbued with social and cultural meaning, while it provides shelter, security, and a place for our daily activities. Home is the surrounding landscape, both public and private. Home is also an emotional space where we find a sense of belonging and attachment.
Home is a complex concept that has a diversity of meanings for all of us, but especially for those who are displaced. In this exhibition women, from Iraq, Syria, and Egypt share their experiences of home...from tables where tea connects friends and family to the trauma of war and the need to seek refuge. Home has often been neither ‘here’ nor ‘there’, but somewhere in-between.
For all of the women whose stories are told in this installation, this city has become their home. The process of integration is long and complicated, filled with frustration and joy, new experiences and the heaviness of all that has been lost. Preserving their cultures, building new relationships, and feeling welcome and whole in a new place is how most now define home.
As these women create a space where empathy flows freely, they are also countering the dangerous rhetoric, war mongering, and restrictive immigration policies that are far too prevalent, today and throughout America’s history. We are all asked to recognize and reject the xenophobia and racism inherent in the calls ‘to go home’, knowing that it is in the honoring of our differences and the connectedness of our humanity that our shared home is strengthened.
The works displayed in the Players By The Sea’s lobby gallery are a selection of those that were in the original exhibition held at Yellow House in the Fall of 2019, which included the works of 15 women. The show is the result of a partnership among: Artugee, an organization that uses art as a means for social connection, economic empowerment, and advocacy for Arab American women making their home in Northeast Florida; the Florida Immigrant Coalition and We Are All America organizations; and Yellow House, an organization committed to the intersection of art and social justice. It was co-curated by Malath Alarnosi, Basma Alawee, and Hope McMath, director of Yellow House.
Players by the Sea is thrilled to bring this work to the local community. The community will be able to witness this work when they buy tickets to see “A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum”, Players by the Sea’s first musical of 2020. Tickets are available online now, or by calling (904) 249-0289. You won’t want to miss this cultural experience!
DATES:
Meaningful artwork presented in lobby gallery
January 24 — February 15. 2020
LOCATION: Players By The Sea Theatre
106 6th Street North
Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
(904) 249-0289
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