Home, Place and Positionality

Home, Place and Positionality is a two-person, trans-cultural exhibition featuring South Korean-born, Haerim Lee (Chicago, IL) and North American-born, Fatima Laster (Milwaukee, WI). Lee’s small-scale weaving paintings that reflect site-specific materials and memories of Chicago and Laster’s “America Dreaming” series– 2-D mixed media home constructions incorporating obstructed family photos from gentrification-threatened childhood residences– intermix to visually address how their disparate birth geographies and chosen and forced relocation influence and challenge the notion of home, belonging and racial and cultural identity. Laster’s and Lee’s distinct art approaches intersect further with intimately curated family photo albums documenting their personal home stories and journeys that allowed their culturally contrasting paths to cross. 

The artists invite viewers to engage with the work, sharing their own written mementos about home, place and their identity in reference to specific spaces and exchange stories during the show’s closing artist talk.