A Personal History of Home: an Anthology

'Being Black, Being Abstract, Being Invisible' No 1/2, 2021, Gouache 6 x 6 inches

The Personal History of Home anthology project, an initiative led by Dr Jennifer Wong during her period as a humanities exchange fellow, is supported by TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities), a hub for intellectual collaboration and cross-disciplinary research projects and research engagement based at the University of Oxford. 

In July 2022, I answered a call by Dr Wong for submissions to the anthology project — an invitation to submit creative compositions including poems, flash fiction/short stories, nonfiction, photographs, and artwork.

'No Place Like Home' No 2/12, 2019, Mixed Media, 11.7 x 16.5 inches

My initial submission No Place Like Home is one of a series of twelve spontaneous abstract artworks made in 2019 and marked my decision to explore making larger-scale paintings. Spontaneous Abstract is a form of art involving the combination of abstract art and bold colour schemes using a range of mediums. Another term would be Abstract Expressionism. Making this stream-of-consciousness artwork enabled me to bring out my voice and add the texture of multilayered phrases to the artwork. 

Working in this artwork style has surprised me as some of the pieces have revealed autobiographical connotations that must have been in my subconscious. Painting in this spontaneous abstract genre gave me enough incentive and motivation towards completing the whole series. The accumulative effect of working on the series provided a sense of creative freedom.

For an in-depth discussion about my spontaneous abstract piece, No Place Like Home, which includes an explanation of the thematic concept of the artwork, do check out my YouTube video below:

Instead of selecting No Place Like Home, Dr Jennifer Wong decided to choose one of my other artwork pieces posted on this blog, Being Black, Being Abstract, Being Invisible No 1, stating, "To me that speaks about identity and hence, the transition of home (it doesn't need to be personal, but the concept behind drives the way we see belonging/spaces/identities)."  

I'm pleased to say that my submission: Being Black, Being Abstract, Being Invisible No 1/2  (2021) has been included on page 96 of the anthology and published on a digital library via the Oxford TORCH website in December 2022, so that anyone can access the stories and artwork and feel inspired. 

For the full details about my artwork Being Black, Being Abstract, Being Invisible, do check out my blog post here.

Thanks for reading.