A house or a home? Often these words are used interchangeably as synonyms in daily conversations. Yet, for many people the two words have strikingly different definitions, especially for those who are obligated to have two houses: children of separated families.
New York City poses interesting opportunities for kids to live close to both parents (i.e.: in the same neighborhood, within the same apartment building), yet still separated. Increasingly, arrangements are made to have children to spend equal time with parents by going back and forth between homes. Much of the literature and resources of separation are focused on assisting parents. Very little explores the nuisances of what the children go through and how they are able to cope and understand their dichotomous life situations. Especially as a child reaches their late teenage years, the concepts of home, identity, and belonging become increasingly apparent greatly manifesting itself materialistically.
For most, the consistency of coming “home” to a physical structured “house” that is filled with personal belongings is taken for granted. For children living in two houses, they have to deal with two sets of possessions, dual cultures & religion, and considerations to what bed they will be sleeping in.
My project will be a photographic, multimedia exploration of the unique situations of children of separation in New York City. Each photographic set will explore a different aspect of being a child living between two houses. I will interview and photograph the subjects, with parent permission, about their concepts of house and home and photograph the ways they create home within two houses.
The final work is intended to visually shed light on the unique situations and ways of defining space that children of separated families utilize in correlation with their definitions of home.
