Spaces of belonging: Spiritual landscapes of identity

Abstract

Abstract: This visual and textual narrative explores the landscapes of identity when one leaves one’s country of origin for another, one culture for another and walks with the question “what is home?” I travel to a town in Mexico yearly for several weeks and have had the opportunity for extended stays. These profound moments of relationality and the connection of spirit to time and place resonate in past and current memories. A multimodal bricolage of photography, drawing, painting, poetics and text, ground this holistic living inquiry, reflecting the liminality of sensual experiences, and spiritual geographies that informed and transformed my identity. Tropical tree and plant roots became the metaphor for what holds us to a place.  How we are rooted to a place, that is not one’s birthplace, is also shaped by the visual soundscapes and topography of the town. Over the course of nine weeks, I walked in wonder, with curiosity, meandering with the moments.