Homesick by Kathryn Rodrigues

Issue 182

Growing up in a military family, I have repeated the process of disassembling, reassembling and acclimating my home, community and sense of self across different countries and contexts. I am fascinated by the ambiguity of simultaneous belonging and longing and separation and closeness that I have felt my entire life. Throughout my multinational childhood, interactions with the natural world have always served as a balm to feeling rootless, encouraging a sense of closeness and grounding.

The series Homesick examines the contrast between my transient childhood and current life parenting in the suburbs. While reckoning with putting down roots for the first time, I also struggle with the isolation and societal pressures surrounding caregiving. I began this series of performative self-portraits taken in my yard and around the exterior edges of my house. I document the process of orienting myself to the space and the objects found within, attempting to understand and memorize the landscape. I explore the intersection of public and private domestic spaces, using my body as a cartographic tool for delineating and transgressing edges and boundaries. The images represent the range of emotions present as I wander through the space, from dark humor and absurdity to yearning and hopefulness. The work celebrates moments of attempted connection and stillness after a lifetime of movement.

Kathryn Rodrigues (she/her) lives and works in Chicago, IL, USA.
www.kathrynrodrigues.com | @kathryn.rodrigues