Ji Woo Lim

Returning to Home

There are few values lost as capitalism became intense. The definition of a house is one of them. Nowadays, the house has a meaning as property rather than a place. The absence of a home means missing the method of self-evidence. Consequently, people are losing their existence covered by the nightscape: a homeless. According to the 2021 health reports of Statistics Canada, more than 235,000 people in Canada are in a state of loss of shelter, and 25,000 to 35,000 people are wandering around looking for stable housing tonight. Returning to Home questions the genuine meaning of home and attempts to reach out the opportunity to the public to deconstruct the individualism and reorganize the community. Returning to Home is composed of participatory pieces presenting a direct experience of altering the world through the action: noticing the reality of homeless and considering the next move.

“IMHERE presents the presence of the people who feel excluded and want to shout out their existence in society. The three pieces of a logo, poster, and interactive billboard design guide the visitors to the imaginary non-profit organization and its objective to make the housing problem in our community visible. In this society where ownership proves the existence, IMHERE provides a broad definition of home for those who have lost their role in society through cognition and support.The second project, Dignity, is a metal installation piece resembling a sanitary vending machine. Dignity investigates “Why” in the perspective of the visibility of women homeless. Although women homeless occupy a quarter to a third of the entire ratio, it is uncommon to witness them on the street. Artist points out the negative circulation of women homeless hiding from the violence and invisibility that accuse them to the lowest class of welfare by occupying public sanitary vending machines. The left side contains the piles of tampons, and the right side contains the information cards that participants can draw and take whatever they want. ”