Maruska  Svasek, Feeling (at) Home? Resonance and Transvision through Art

This paper is interested in work by non-displaced artists who explore experiences of traumatic displacement in their art. Why do they choose to do so? How do they approach the subject? Which format do they choose to understand and visualise experiences of home that are quite different to their own? How effective is their work? Building on theories of home, belonging and emotions, the paper examines the work ‘Home’ by the artist Sophie Ernst. The installation consists of cardboard models of family houses, recorded dialogues between parents and children, and projections of the narrators' hands. The analysis regards the social life of ‘Home’ as a potentiality of empathetic resonance and transvision – a practice of emotional understanding and multiple perspective taking that is aided by skilful visual engagement. Some images, sounds or other media used in the following presentation are subject to copyright restrictions that prevent them being shown. In order to provide a complete record of the conference, these items have been blurred or silenced. Should we obtain permission to use these images, sounds and other media in the future the films will be updated.