Home Is Not (Yet) A Place

Home Is Not (Yet) A Place

A showcase by Karman
Hosted by Lloyd’s Inn

If home is not yet a place, what have we been going back to day after day? 

If home is not yet a place, is it a feeling? Perhaps a longing. Un-belonging. The memory of a familiar scent. Rituals and unexpected rainbows. Ordinary, insignificant moments not more people seem to take notice of. Perhaps. In this writer’s ongoing quest for the meaning/feeling of home, I keep returning to three words: Who am I? Sometimes, Why am I? A sense of self. If we keep finding a way back to our deepest, true-nature selves, then maybe, wherever we are, there home can be. Will be. 

In this collection, seven pieces of writings contemplate, question and attempt to re-define home. Some of us have known home to be a place and a family to which we were born (a choice that isn’t ours). Some of us have known home to be a place from which we had to leave and escape. Some of us have known home to be temporary places made of walls and floors and expiry dates. But I have never quite known home to be a place where I felt I belong. It was this growing curiosity and desire to make sense of this tiny speck of space in the universe in which I exist—and the reason that I do—that inspired this journey: My inner home-coming (this choice, mine).

Ironically, these home-searching words of mine may be discovered on walls—at Lloyd’s Inn, their home for one month. As you encounter them, I hope you’ll meet another piece of your self. In this moment, exactly where you are, come home to your self. 

P.S. This showcase is dedicated to all square pegs made not for round worlds. 

P.P.S. Lloyd’s Inn and I wish to donate 50% of the total amount collected with the sale of all seven pieces to Star Shelter*—a temporary refuge for women and children survivors of family violence. Help us make this little warm wish of ours come true ♥︎

If home is not yet a place, what have we been going back to day after day? 

If home is not yet a place, is it a feeling? Perhaps a longing. Un-belonging. The memory of a familiar scent. Rituals and unexpected rainbows. Ordinary, insignificant moments not more people seem to take notice of. Perhaps. In this writer’s ongoing quest for the meaning/feeling of home, I keep returning to three words: Who am I? Sometimes, Why am I? A sense of self. If we keep finding a way back to our deepest, true-nature selves, then maybe, wherever we are, there home can be. Will be. 

In this collection, seven pieces of writings contemplate, question and attempt to re-define home. Some of us have known home to be a place and a family to which we were born (a choice that isn’t ours). Some of us have known home to be a place from which we had to leave and escape. Some of us have known home to be temporary places made of walls and floors and expiry dates. But I have never quite known home to be a place where I felt I belong. It was this growing curiosity and desire to make sense of this tiny speck of space in the universe in which I exist—and the reason that I do—that inspired this journey: My inner home-coming (this choice, mine).

Ironically, these home-searching words of mine may be discovered on walls—at Lloyd’s Inn, their home for one month. As you encounter them, I hope you’ll meet another piece of your self. In this moment, exactly where you are, come home to your self. 

P.S. This showcase is dedicated to all square pegs made not for round worlds. 

P.P.S. Lloyd’s Inn and I wish to donate 50% of the total amount collected with the sale of all seven pieces to Star Shelter*—a temporary refuge for women and children survivors of family violence. Help us make this little warm wish of ours come true ♥︎

*Star Shelter, by the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO), is a temporary refuge for women and children survivors of family violence and abuse that provides accommodation, clothing, food, as well as therapy and educational programmes to empower survivors to rebuild their lives.

*Star Shelter, by the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO), is a temporary refuge for women and children survivors of family violence and abuse that provides accommodation, clothing, food, as well as therapy and educational programmes to empower survivors to rebuild their lives.

Photography: KARMAN

“Home Is Not (Yet) A Place”
is available for viewing at Lloyd’s Inn from September 19 to October 20.

“Home Is Not (Yet) A Place”
is available for viewing at Lloyd’s Inn from September 19 to October 20.

In the mean time, if you have another seven minutes to spare, here’s a conversation between Lloyd’s Inn and me that reaches into the behind story of this collection of words & what “home” means to me in this season. We also talked about fashion/style as a means of expressing my self and translating my inner world—which interestingly presented a different way for me to decipher the notion of coming home to my self.

In the mean time, if you have another seven minutes to spare, here’s a conversation between Lloyd’s Inn and me that reaches into the behind story of this collection of words & what “home” means to me in this season. We also talked about fashion/style as a means of expressing my self and translating my inner world—which interestingly presented a different way for me to decipher the notion of coming home to my self.