Public Art

The Wandering House

Exploring Home and Belonging, one voice at a time

The Wandering House is a public art installment. A former ice fishing house, retrofitted to become an audio recording studio, The Wandering House provides a reflective space for the members of Northfield community to explore their idea of home. Based in this small Midwestern town and showcased at the biggest public art conference in North America, Imagining America in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the project is currently being featured at the Rochester Art Museum. For more info please visit www.thewanderinghouse.com.

I started off as a production assistant for the project after I myself participated in the project. As a third culture kid, I knew my idea of home and belonging is complicated but externalizing those thoughts, really made a breakthrough in my self-identity and I was inspired to bring this experience to others in my community. My job was to narrativize the project and persuade the public to participate and record their stories. After three months, we have recorded over 48 hours of stories from 200+ participants. I am still in contact with most of them.

I then created the project’s first website and assisted the creator in social media marketing in order to increase outreach for the project and get as many perspectives on home and belonging as possible. Even in the small Midwestern town of 20,000, the diversity of identities has been a marvel and an inspiration to me. I continue to stay engaged in this project as it expands to new forms including an embroidery project.