Home: A Contemporary Photographic Exhibition
Lorna O’Brien

The meaning of home, of a protected refuge, is very often connected with comfort, relationships, family and the traditional rituals that give meaning to our lives. While the term home is immediately identifiable and the physical reality of home is a central characteristic of our everyday lives, our perceptions of what it truly means to us does not come into raw focus. It seems something most of us have taken for granted, but its the most elemental embodiment of life. Its has vestiges of greeting card schlock ‘Home is where the heart is’ when it can have negative personal connotations. Home is also related to memory, a wish to honour the past and communicate to others our identities through the spirit of our homes or as a national identity. Our collective relationship with our nationality can have many implications too as a home identity borne out by the trauma people experience after a national crisis through a natural disaster or a political upheaval. Without a home everything is decentralised, waiting without living . The exhibition deals with people’s personal, political and financial connection with the nature of Home. The viewer is presented with a visual narrative exploring various subjects dealing with the theme. The 8 photographers involved have all taken aspects of this using their unique style from Noel Bowler’s look at interim housing in the Congo to Joe Sterling look at his children living in two countries experiencing separate cultural identities after their parent’s separation.
(source: Forward)

Lorna O’Brien originally comes from a fine art background studying in Sallynoggin and New Port, South Wales. She has spent a number of years working as a photographic editor in the news industry, alongside working on personal projects.
(source: pages 48)