What is home?

Ask someone who has had her beloved home taken from her not once, but twice. The first time, when every door was slammed in her face. The second time, after several years of nurturing a fragile hope—that time would heal wounds, anger would turn to love, and rejection into acceptance. She dreamed of the day she could finally show her birthplace, a place more precious to her than heaven, to her own husband and children. Then she was told that this hope, too, was destroyed, and her home was taken from her again, this time (il)legally. It is from such a person that you learn a new definition of home. To me, home is more than just a physical address.

Home is not a place but a relationship—a dynamic conversation between humanity and our world. Through light, landscape, and belonging, my work explores home as sanctuary, beacon, covenant, and primal embrace. It is both intimate and expansive: a light offered to guide others, a shared space where humans and nature coexist, a courageous warmth kindled against vastness, and an instinctual burrow of safety. Home is where we anchor, belong, and become. It is built and carried within, then offered outward—a living exchange of safety and connection in a searching world.

“Where light resides”, Acrylic on 10X10 inch canvas.

Home reveals itself first as a promise of guidance—a steadfast presence amid turbulence. A structure stands resilient against the elements, its light piercing the darkness not for itself, but for those navigating uncertainty. This embodies home as an outward gesture: a offering of safety that transcends its own walls. It is vigilant, purposeful, and generous—a symbol of how home can exist as an act of care, a place where light is not merely stored but shared. Here, home becomes a verb as much as a noun; it is the act of grounding, guiding, and gathering. It speaks to our profound need to be anchors for one another—to create spaces of orientation in a world that often feels vast and unpredictable.

“Not Walls, But Welcome”, Acrylic on 10X10 inch canvas.

Here, home extends beyond the human; it is a nucleus of belonging that radiates safety and reciprocity. The boundaries between the domestic and the wild soften, suggesting that home is not defined by exclusion but by invitation. It is a tapestry woven from mutual respect—a space where the breath of the natural world is welcomed, and where humanity takes its place not as conqueror, but as caretaker and companion. This vision proposes that home is where we remember our innate kinship with the world around us. It is an ecosystem of belonging, rooted in the understanding that we are part of, not separate from, the rhythms and inhabitants of the land we call ours.

“A New Day for the World to Call Home”, Acrylic on 10×10 inch Canvas.

Yet home is also a negotiation between intimacy and immensity—a theme embodied in a vision of humble dwellings nestled within a majestic, untamed landscape. Here, human presence is rendered small against the grandeur of mountains, sky, and water, yet it is far from insignificant. The warmth emanating from these shelters speaks of courage—the courage to create warmth amid vastness, meaning amid mystery. This tension between the finite and the infinite is where home finds its profound emotional resonance: it is our hearth against the boundless, our stories amid the silence. It does not seek to dominate the landscape, but to converse with it—to find beauty not in spite of our smallness, but because of it. In this balance, home becomes both a refuge from the sublime and a doorway to it.

“Of Earth and Warmth, Rooted in joy”, Acrylic on 10X10 canvas.

Finally, home is returned to its most essential form: an embodiment of instinctual comfort and organic belonging. In a depiction of a dwelling that seems to emerge from the earth itself, home is felt rather than thought—a deep, somatic certainty of safety and replenishment. There are no sharp edges here; instead, curvature, softness, and integration prevail. This is home as burrow—a place that satisfies our most ancient longings for enclosure, protection, and peace. It speaks a language of texture, warmth, and quietude, reminding us that before home was an idea, it was a feeling. It is where we are free to be unguarded, to nurture and be nurtured, and to experience the simple, profound joy of being entirely where we are meant to be.

What is home? The answer unfolds not as a singular definition but as a layered conversation between humanity and the world we inhabit—a dialogue explored through the interplay of light, landscape, shelter, and belonging. This body of work contemplates home not as a static location but as a dynamic, living relationship—an emotional, physical, and spiritual alignment that shapes our understanding of safety, connection, and identity. Through four interconnected visions, I delve into the essence of home as something both intimate and expansive: a sanctuary, a beacon, a covenant with nature, and a primal embrace. Each piece serves as a meditation on how we find, create, and recognize home within and around us.