No place like home: The reimagining of home in the workds of Kimsooja, Simryn Gill and Rina Banerjee
This thesis examines how three transnational women artists, Kimsooja (South Korea/France/US), Simryn Gill (Singapore/Malaysia/Australia), and Rina Banerjee (India/UK/US) use materials to reconstruct concepts of home across geographic and cultural boundaries, challenging traditional notions of home as a fixed location. Through careful analysis of their use of textiles, found objects and cultural artefacts, this study reveals how these artists create affective experiences of home.
The research draws on academic scholarship related to material culture, transnationalism and spatial analysis to examine how the artists utilise different methods to create their own perspectives of home. Kimsooja's bottari bundles maintain traditions and preserve cultural memory through traditional textiles; Gill's interventions with nature and found domestic objects imbued with colonial histories explore cultural practices and transformation; and Banerjee's practice uses cultural objects from around the world to explore themes of identities, globalisation and transnational connections.
The study also analyses how scale influences embodied experiences of home-making through Henri Lefebvre's spatial triad and phenomenological approaches. The findings contribute to shaping contemporary perspectives of how transnational identities navigate displacement and negotiate forms of belonging across different cultural contexts. This research is significant as it contributes to the ongoing dialogue of how contemporary art engages with migration, belonging and cultural identity in an increasingly globalised world.
