Lennoxville, Quebec is a transitory town. Its population fluctuates with the input/output of university students. In the early fall, hundreds migrate to this academic center and when spring graces us with its presence, hundreds more move on and away from the place they have come to know. For many, this town becomes a home away from away home. Some leave as quickly as they came, others take root and settle down along the Massawippi shore. What I am interested in is how we create a sense of home in states of transition.
How do we envelop and nurture our need for attachment, security and comfort while allowing for freedom and flexibility? How do we invest in something when it is impermanent? If and when we move on, what do we take with us? What do we leave behind? What does our environment, our stuff and our way of expressing our materialistic and subsequently psychological needs say about us, our personality and our culture? I started pondering this question when I felt this desire to root myself into the community while simultaneously feeling a strong need to move, travel and experience new things. I wanted to materialize and transform this tension that I felt and believe many in their early adulthood (arguably throughout life) feel. From this point, I started playing with the concept of Nomadic Nests. My first human sized nest focused on the relationship between Bishop’s and the larger community. Born out of the university sculpture studio it travelled through Lennoxville, stayed at L’espace 100 noms for two weeks and finally rooted itself at the socio-ecological community house Tierra del Fuego. The second human sized nest found here focuses more on my personal journey in the townships. This has been my home for the past three or more years. I have shaped and been shaped by the people and places that surround me. I have loved and hated being here. As I prepare to leave, the nest, sculpted into a teepee like structure, dissolves, fades and evolves into something new.
The Nomadic Nests ponder constructs and concepts of home, security, attachment, comfort, change, culture, migration and materialism. I invite all to rest and reflect on these notions by gently occupying the space, the home, the nest.
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