Shiemara Hogarth
This audio-visual installation draws on elements of cartography, visual semiotics and textile design in the culmination of an autoethnographic study of the experience of migration for my immediate family and myself. Referencing the cities in – and outside of – Jamaica, that we have called home, along with their corresponding road maps and flora, the work displays as twelve unique digitally printed panels, spaces of 'before' and 'after', linked by a hand-dyed devoré ‘bridge’ of the movement between the cities. Viewers were encouraged to listen to the recordings to connect the visuals with the stories shared.
The stories were often bittersweet, but, cumulatively, they acknowledged that memories of relationships that created formative experiences had more of an impact on a sense of self and belonging through the process of immigration than the occupation of a specific geographical space.
