‘The two faces visualise the differing states of mind in temporary and permanent accommodation. In temporary accommodation, my face shows the dislocation that occurs when moving between different temporary accommodation places. Looking face on and head turned at the same time. Never knowing what comes next. In the second portrait, now I am home, in a social housing unit where I have lived for 14 years, my face is relaxed and cohesive. Facing the world with a smile…
– Susan H
- Title: Finding Home
- Artist: Susan H
- Year: 2024
- Medium: Acrylic on fabric
I love the flowers on the fabric. I picked that fabric because it lightened my mood. I wanted to paint something black, white and red because I wanted to do something bold. The lightweight fabric was happenstance and wasn’t chosen deliberately. Likewise, the single red flower falling from the tree was an accidental inclusion when I overbalanced, and the paintbrush luckily fell onto a flower.
The tree represents a fire that happened in a social housing property which resulted in my homelessness and led to me being in temporary crisis accommodation. The blackened wood, the flames leaping out of the window like branches of a tree.
The temporary crisis accommodation is represented as a rectangle because my temporary accommodation was just a room – it is very two-dimensional and basic, which is why I have no hair. In temporary accommodation, I was focussed on getting through each day, stuck in a room with a TV but knowing there were other worse options like a bus shelter.
My home has a roof just like the one I painted. In my home, I am three dimensional and there is more detail painted. I’ve made a feature of my exotropia (turned eye) instead of hiding it as I often do and the smile is obvious – I am housed.’
– Susan H