Feeling of A Place

This piece is a response to feeling lucky within my homesickness for Colombia; an expression of the mesmerizing chaos and colors that remind me of home and make me feel at peace. Overlayed with hand stitching, there is an exploration of the neural correlates of spatial orientation and memories trigged by place. This stitching was inspired by Michael Raedecker and Alice Kettle’s work. The watered down acrylic paint that drips and lets light filter through was inspired by the bittersweet quality of nostalgia and by Jennifer Packer’s dreamlike paintings. The blues and curved brushstrokes create an illusion of wet air, while hanging threads echo the drips and bring the eye to the stitched pyramidal neurons. Said neurons are involved in cognitive mapping, and the grid created by perpendicular intersections of thread imitate grid cells - our neural mechanism for navigating space I added quintessential Colombian imagery of a canoe and tropical flora to tie the neuroscience back to my personal experience of homesickness.