What home means to you?

This post is also available in: polski (Polish)

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.
Maya Angelou

The orange light of sunset behind the curtain, made bed, heather-covered hills, a mother’s hands, a kettle on the stove with laundry drying above it, relaxed cat, people hugging, shoes, glass bottles of homemade juice, the ocean (…) Various images remind us of home. We come from different countries, but we all live in Galway, and we are united by a Photography Exhibition “Home” part of Eastside Arts Festival organized by Hugh Murphy.

The day before, a storm raged in our city, so some events have canceled. However, on Saturday, although the wind was still blowing, the sun broke shyly. And at the Ballybane Library, local residents gathered, people from different cultures who live side by side.

Personally, it’s difficult for me to name my home to just four walls. Because I’ve moved many times, and sometimes I feel like I’m simply living on the road. However, I decorate every space I live in cozily and in my own way. My symbols of home are the sideboard in the living room and the table covered with a colorful tablecloth.

The local community has always been important to me as part of my home. Even when I lived in Poland, I wanted to build something with people from the same city. Now I’m continuing this in Galway.

That’s why my home has not roof. The ocean and good shoes are important to me. But also spending time homely, on the sofa, in an armchair, at the table with close people. Often with a lit candle or a cozy lamp. My home is my husband and also my cat, who has passed away, but whose presence symbolizes the paw print.

Home is a root of our being in the world, the source of all joys and sorrows destined by fate.

–Xiaojian Zheng says.

Few years ago, I interviewed Xiaojian Zheng (Jennifer) for my blog. You can read it here. It was during the pandemic, so we only exchanged emails. And now, thanks to this exhibition, we had the opportunity to meet in person for the first time.

Jennifer, who was born in China, shares a home in Galway with another people. Her photo show doors with stained glass, reflected in the cracked image in the coridor. Thanks to this depth, she wanted to give more space to the place where she currently lives.

Her research and her art focuses on placemaking, place identity, sustainability and digitalisation. Few months ago, she presented documentary photographs from her home city, Tai’an, in the exhibition “Desultory Narrative” in Galway.

A couple of years ago I came across a quote from Cicero which goes: “If you have a garden and library you have everything you need.” Unfortunately, we only have tiny garden but we have Merlin Woods as a place of refuge.. And having books around me has always been a comfort. At a time in my life when I was suffering from anxiety, I would always find escape in books. Art books are also a source of inspiration.

–Hugh Murphy says.

Finding the answer to what home means to us seems crucial, but sometimes it’s not easy. People move, losing their homes to wars. They emigrate, and seek a better place to live for various reasons. In Ireland, the housing situation often prevents people from owning their own home.

But is a home just a building?

It’s a place where I don’t have to play any roles, where I can take off all my masks and simply be myself. It’s where I’m loved, understood, and awaited. It’s where everything feels deeply familiar — endlessly familiar.

It’s where I feel the quiet support of my roots, where I feel grounded, and this connection gives me confidence and a deep sense of safety. It’s a place that can give you an incredible strength to live, where you can restore your life energy for every new day.

But life has its own rhythm now, and time dictates different rules. We can’t always build one home for a lifetime —so we learn to carry this feeling of home inside, and to recreate it gently, in the place where life expects us to be.