Artistic Methodology
Volunteers, staff and residents from COMI go to pick up food donations from the market.
HOME was born out of a previous project of mine called “Better Yourself” (2017-2018): a series of recorded conversations with artists about the concept of bettering yourself. I like the artistic medium of a recorded one-to-one conversation - something we naturally do all the time, but when it’s planned and recorded it takes on a different meaning. The results are personal, unpredictable and usually deep and meaningful. For HOME I wanted to use that medium but add two layers: an investigative element and photography.
The piece is a multi-sensory experience: food, music, photography and stories. I’d like you to interact with the experience of the interviewee and become a participant yourself. In this way people can connect with the common denominators, the elements that link us all one to another, the relationships we have with certain music and food.
The result is striking but slow burning. You are invited to delve into the project, into the recordings and the stories. You are encouraged to study the participant’s faces and listen to sometimes long recordings to properly experience the project. It is not immediate: imagining the tastes. listening to the conversation and the song. Reading the photograph - it takes time.
The entire project is shot on black and white film. The physical and grainy character of the medium gives a very direct and honest quality to the images. You don’t know what the result will be until you get the film back. The unpredictability of the process mirrors the journey of the depicted person. In both cases the paths are long and laborious and many things can go wrong. Personally the process of working with black and white film takes me back to school, back to basics. The same way this project explores the basic elements of food and music that link all humans together. The participants are shown within the reality of their environment and I have not tried to smooth out any human imperfections. There was no make up, only natural light, shadows on the face, odd focus points (if any), backlight, low light, movement, failed pictures, damaged film etc. In terms of the audio it is important to me that you can hear the background. The alarms, sound clashes, the crowds, the street vendors, the sound systems all further illustrate where we were. All the pictures were taken in immediate proximity of where the conversation was recorded.
The camera I used belonged to my granddad (see technical details). This camera has deep personal value to me and is connected to where I grew up, my home. Most of my mother’s family photo albums were shot on this camera.
In terms of curating the pictures and the recordings it’s important to me to honour the trust I’ve been given and therefore feature everyone I talked to. Elements that can be seen as audio or image defects are an intrinsic part of the fragility of this piece.
Conversations and Interview techniques
I approach each conversation with the same initial pattern which gives me a solid starting point to build on and allows me freedom to explore different issues with different participants. The structure of each recording is different due to differing environments and surroundings. I always start by explaining exactly what the interview consists of and only press record once I’d discussed preliminary issues with them and they have signed the consent form. This occasionally means that interesting stories are shared with me but not recorded - a tradeoff I make for ensuring that the participant is fully aware of what they are going to be discussing.
The structure is the following:
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Introduction
What’s your name and where were you born?
I prefer asking where they were born as opposed to where they are from. It’s more specific and therefore easier to answer as a first question. -
Definition of the feeling of being at home
This section allows the participant to tell me what elements make a place feel like home. This question produced both one-word and extended answers. -
About the journey
Why have you left the place you used to call home?
It is important for me to convey that it is totally up to them how much they share with me. -
Music
Whether it’s in relation to your new home, or one you left behind, is there any song or piece of music that you associate with home? Something that gives you a sense of belonging. What is the music? Would you share it with me? -
Food
Is there a dish or a drink that comforts you? That gives you a sense of belonging?
I’m a caseworker in refugee services at the British Red Cross (BRC). For this job I’ve had training and gathered experience in talking to people of diverse backgrounds and reacting to someone who is talking about difficult subjects such as trauma or grief. I complemented this training with personal research in interviewing techniques. During a conversation I try to be unafraid to gently press for more, examples and further specific explanations. I always intend to be interested, curious and centre everything on the participant. I strive for empathy and keep my language as clear and simple as possible. The most important thing is listening with intent and looking for cues. I hold it as fundamental to set aside personal opinion and prejudice and to never equate their struggles with mine. All experiences are individual and unique.
Something I do in my job at BRC and have adapted for HOME is to never question the participant’s story and to accept their realities - the positive and the negative sides even if it sometimes seems far fetched.
Everyone who participated signed a consent form. Everyone was asked if they wanted to change their name; I never checked their identities but to my knowledge only two people took me up on this offer and they have different names: Pedro and Juan Carlos.
References
Headlee, C (2015), “10 ways to have a better conversation” TEDx Talk. Accessed in 2020 onhttps://www.ted.com/talks/celeste_headlee_10_ways_to_have_a_better_conversation
Moulthrop, D (2017), “The Art Of Asking Questions” TEDx Talk. Accessed in 2020 on https://youtu.be/hZSY0PssqH0
Dronkers, M (2015), “How to interview “almost” anyone” TEDx Talk. Accessed in 2020 on https://youtu.be/WDOQBPYEaNs
British Red Cross (2019), “Guidelines and tips on how to conduct focus groups”. Internal training printout