We Were Trying to Build a Home explores the intersections of trauma, survival, and the ongoing search for belonging. Through self-portraits, still lifes, and film, I turn to the intimate spaces of my life my room, my mother, and myself as both witnesses to violence and sites of resilience.
The room emerges as a central character: a sanctuary and a crime scene, a place of betrayal yet also of reclamation. Alongside these personal reflections, my mother’s presence grounds the work. Her voice and vulnerability speak to intergenerational burdens of survival while affirming the love and courage that make endurance possible.
This body of work is a meditation on what it means to build and rebuild home in a fractured world. It holds space for grief and hope, inviting viewers into a shared reflection on memory, loss, and the possibilities of transformation.