#resound11 Prompt 14: Home is …
When did you feel most at home this year: in your life, in your space, in your career, in your skin? What factors make that situation feel like home? Do certain comforts make your space feel like home? Does being with certain people make you feel complete? Is there an activity in which you excel that makes you feel like you’re doing what you were meant to do?This is your life. Where do you live? Where is home?
How will you resound?
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Nichos
I’m a creature of comfort. I’m very, very attracted to places, situations, people and things that are very comforting– as I’ve gotten older I’ve done things less for the sake of [fill in the blank]. I want it to feel warm and inviting and nothing for show. I’m not one to stay uncomfortable. (see also: high heels, stuffy work events, 3D IMAX movies that have no business being in 3D – my poor eyes… you get the point) I’m an advocate of simple pleasures and I wake up looking for it. I’m grateful to have the ability to bring comfort with me wherever I go. When I make a situation comfortable then I have to work less at staying comfortable and actually find myself really enjoying the moment.
In 2011, I drove down to San Diego to visit my friend Marty. The photos I took of her at the 2008 Dia de los Muertos celebration in Hollywood Forever were hand picked by a curator of an art+photography show in Oregon back in 2009. I decided I would participate again for the 2012 show. I spent more time getting to know Marty and her family during my visit earlier this year; and I started to figure out why I’m so attracted to Dia de los Muertos as a whole. It reminds me of Filipino culture, my family — and I absolutely love what the altars represent. The effort each family member gives to honoring their deceased loved one by building ofrendas feels familiar to me somehow. In Central and South America (mostly found Latin folk art) there’s something called nichos - I love these so much. Filipinos are heavily influenced by Spanish+ Latin culture — and the familiar look of nichos is something I find so comforting. It just feels like home. And I found it hard to describe my attraction to Mexican Dia de los Muertos art until Marty told me what nichos were after pointing one out to her.
2012: now that I know what nichos are I will seek out more of them in my life, both in the literal & figurative sense.
