With this residency, I sought out to explore through video and mixed media what it meant to find home home. Having never left home before in 24 years, I wanted to explore new context and investigate the character and heart of this home of others.
Paonia has answered my questions in a remarkable, unexpected way. There is so much diversity in such few residents and blocks of streets. From miners to old-schoolers; farmers, artists, musicians, story-tellers, “hippies”, solar engineers, doctors, scientists, families. It is a community in every sense of the word. There’s an awareness and concern for one-another’s well-being and there is a humble intelligence to the simplicity here. The pace is slow, but there is always work being done and creativity flowing free. They are open, warm, and everyone is celebrated for their individuality. At the same time, there is a real seriousness about preserving the landscape and sustaining this way of life.
It was quite apparent early on that this is how people should be living.
I intend to further develop my video series upon returning to Sault Ste. Marie, ON. In revisiting these captured moments carefully and deliberately I’ll assemble the videos experimentally through self-derived processes. The videos will be the first installment of my current research project “A Progressive Understanding of Home and The Journey”
Find the first finished videos here:
