Jordan DeLawder
Homeworlding
"Home is a place that I glimpse momentarily but can never hold onto, like enlightenment. Most often I feel it in open spaces, like a meadow or by the river, which is contrary to the usual notion of Home as a House... Maybe Home is where your surroundings love you back..."
I found myself writing this tentative definition of home in a letter to a friend. Ever since I was a child, I have pondered the boundaries of home. Where does it begin, and where does it end? The idea of home as a contained structure or a point on a map is claustrophobic to me. What about the river at the edge of town, the mountains on the horizon, the rest of the world? Living happens out there too...
"Homeworlding" is a series that examines the intimacy between subject and place. By photographing my various encounters in Northwest Oregon, the region that I now call home, I hope to better understand my connection to this landscape. I ask:
Do I belong here?
How does my soul and body feel in these spaces?
Do my surroundings love me back?
As a queer, biracial, and non-native inhabitant of this land, these questions are especially complex. The unfolding responses have been transformative, troubling, and as lush as the moss on the forest floor.