LAUREN N. COMERATO

Echoes of Home is an experiential space created for personal reflection, recognition, and grieving of past home spaces. I can no longer physically visit my grandparent’s homes, but through my work, I can reminisce and memorialize what once was. The plywood structure is placed perpendicular to the gallery wall, showing both interior and exterior views of a house wall, acting as a cross-section of a domestic living space.

 

Using industrial building materials such as scrap electrical wires, plywood, and silicone caulking, paired with domestic fiber techniques like, crocheting, I emphasize the connection and tension between materials and memory. Motifs of domesticity, such as doilies, electric plugs and extension cords paired with patterned wallpaper and ornate picture frames, help situate viewers within a home.

 

The light blue wallpaper displays a repetitive pattern of crocheted doilies, though when viewed from afar

evokes a common floral motif found within kitchens. Atop the wallpaper sit a series of frames in

a variety of shapes and sizes. Each frame is covered in a thick, textured layer of white silicone

caulking referencing those hung on the walls of my grandparents’ house, typically mounting childhood photos. These frames hold moving images through a series of rear-projected videos of my mothers archival childhood footage, and present day videos of my making process. 

 

Lastly, A pale blue hue washes over the chairs, table, and small tchotchkes on the wall, transforming them into a ghostly presence, blurring the line between object and architecture, as if they’ve faded into the wall itself

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