"Where is home? On the one hand, 'home' is a mythic place of desire in the diasporic imagination. In this sense, it is a place of no return, even if it is possible to visit the geographical territory that is seen as the place of 'origin.' On the other hand, home is also the lived experience of a locality. Its sounds and smells, its heat and dust, balmy summer evenings, or the excitement of the first snowfall, shivering winter evenings, sombre grey skies in the middle of the day...."
Avtar Brah, Cartographies of diaspora: contesting identities.
During the summer of 2014, I travelled through the coastal towns of France, Italy, and Spain, and finally returned to my mother's hometown. These images are an exploration of the return to the "native/homeland," and of the relationship between the Southern Europe of today, during its most current economic crisis, and the Southern Europeans of the diasporic community, returning to find traditions and customs that are disappearing faster yet.
The extended series is available for purchase in book format.
Cádiz, Spain, August 2014.
