Anne Nordhaus-Bike
Broken Home (2020)
broken Lenox china dinner plate pieces and watercolor on board
20 x 14 in.
$450 (unframed)
A well lighted home on a dark night appears safe and inviting, light pouring through the windows, pushing back the darkness. Yet what goes on in that place may be the stuff of shame and secrets. What happens when home feels unsafe? Or when the home known and relied upon as a haven changes or breaks up? The familiar pattern of life changes persists, the ancient drumbeat sounding out the rhythm of human experience. It contradicts the illusion of stability: from growing up and moving on (often by moving out or being forced out) to economic uncertainty and loss to health changes and aging. The final change, mortality, breaks up any remaining material certainty and rootedness. Alongside the material, tangible place of dwelling, we experience “home” as a refuge, a lived experience of home as a state of mind or heart that grants us emotional and mental reassurance and well being. In the midst of material changes, the only certainty comes from within, through the heart. When the heart is at peace, we are always “at home,” anywhere we happen to be, no matter the material circumstances of our lives.
© Anne Nordhaus-Bike