The Journey Inward

I’ve bought some African art since I’ve been here that I have displayed in my house and love! I’ve been looking for pieces to put on my walls and even thinking about ways I could create pieces using fabric and wood. But it occurred to me that it’s so ordinary and common place here. When my local friends come over, they’re not seeing anything that they don’t see all the time or have themselves. So I thought, what if I buy the African art to bring back home where it will be a reminder of my time here and an intriguing conversation piece, and instead, I infuse this place with art from home?

I brought a few things with me, but not many. While working for several days with the local DHL to try and get my taxes sent back overseas, I noticed that they make canvases out of photographs. I discussed it with them, went home and sent 10 pictures to them and then 2 more, and within just a few days they were ready! Hanging them without actually putting something in the wall was a bit tricky, but I finally got a solution that is keeping them up!

The theme is spiritual geography. Every picture represents a place where a large piece of my heart is. There is of course, New Jersey, where I was born and raised, but there is also Washington, DC where Gabrielle went to college and lived and where I have much family. There is Connecticut where my other two girls attended the Coast Guard Academy and where I spent so many weekends. There is Miami, Gigi‘s first assignment and now San Diego, her second. There’s Oregon, where Gillian is. There is also Arizona, where the girls and I went one winter break, leaving Christmas night. There is Colorado, where I took my first solo vacation. And England, where I did my study abroad, as did Gabrielle, as well as Scotland, where I felt an undeniable feeling of being home. There is the Grand Canyon where I dreamed of going from the time I was a small child. and there is Signal Hill overlooking Cape Town, where I watched a sunset and knew this would be a happy place I went to in my mind over and over again.

I had friends over last weekend and they so enjoyed looking at my photography and learning about the places that were special to me.

Gillian loved the idea and suggested that I get little placards for them.