HARRIET HILL artist
HOME-ing
A live art odyssey on foot from London to Wales 2021
HOME-ing is an expansive letter costume project; a personal journey and a far-reaching public art installation.
It is a 2.5m long costume of the word ‘HOME’ which I walked in from my home in South London to my family home in Mid-Wales, setting off on 22nd June and arriving on 25th July.
Funded by a National Lottery Project Grant from Arts Council England, the journey and all these encounter was filmed by myself and walking companions. In collaboration with George and Isaac Baggaley, a 33.38' film has been produced which can be viewed as "HOME-ing" on YouTube via link on image above
HOME-ing embodies the universal and the personal. Through enacting the journey I explored how my childhood experience of moving from urban South London to rural Wales in the 1970s made me feel both an outsider and at home in the two locations. Passing through many diverse communities I investigated the commonalities and differences in how people relate to home, personally, socially and politically; revealing a snap-shot of the British public at this transitional moment in UK history.
The costume is constructed from yellow, waterproof cotton canvas over a steel, bamboo and fibreglass frame. Running on two 20" bike wheels, it has an integral tent and storage spaces for everything I needed to make 'home' each night in camp sites and some gardens along the way.
Each day I had walking companions with me to help on a practical level and who brought fresh impetus to the journey.
We stopped to talk to the many people we met along the way, asking them about their experiences of ‘home’ and if they have been impacted through the COVID lockdowns. The costume acts as a prop that captures people’s imagination and triggered all sorts of fascinating conversations.
I’d set up day residencies at a variety of Arts Centres in places I travelled though, where I talked about the project and chatted with visitors about the many and complex resonances of ‘home’. (See full schedule below)
The HOME-ing costume was exhibited in Helsinki from 19th August to 12th September 2021 as part of the Mobile Feminist Library's exhibition “Companions” at the
This page has all information about the project and will be updated as new elements unfold. Please click on links in blue for more information on: the walking schedule and Arts Centres visited; route maps; press release and press coverage.
Follow me on Instagram where I did a daily journal throughout the trip and will be posting up related news as it happens
ARTS CENTRES VISITED: click for links
MEDIA COVERAGE: click for links
BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester: Kate Justice show live Tuesday 16th July
BBC Radio Gloucestershire: Nicky Price show live Friday 16th July
PRINTED PRESS:
THE PECKHAM PECULIAR: June/July 2021
OLD RADNOR WITH KINNERTON PARISH NEWS: July 2021
THE BRECON & RADNOR EXPRESS: July 14th 2021
MID WALES JOURNAL: July 24th 2021
THE WEEK JUNIOR: 7th August 2021
PRESS RELEASE:
HOME-ing: a live art odyssey on foot from London to Wales
Wearing a costume of the word ‘HOME’, artist Harriet Hill will perform a month-long walk from her home in South-East London to her childhood home in Mid Wales. En route she will talk to people about what the word means to them and how that has been affected by the pandemic; interactions that will be recorded and edited into a film to be exhibited alongside the costume in a group show in Helsinki this coming September.
With funding from a National Lottery Project Grant from Arts Council England, Harriet will set off on 22nd June, arriving at her childhood home on 25th July. Accompanied each day by a walking companion, her route passes through Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and finally into Powys. As she walks, Harriet will be stopping off for day residencies at several local arts centres: the Feminist Library, Peckham; HOME on the High Street, Slough; OVADA, Oxford; About Face Theatre Company, Leominster; and finally The Sidney Nolan Trust, Presteigne.
Harriet’s costume is made from yellow canvas over a bamboo and fibreglass frame mounted on a pair of 20” bike wheels. Inside the word is everything the artist needs to make home for the month of the walk - from a pull-out tent to a solar charger. The work builds on a previous project in which volunteers wearing the letters H, O, M, and E interviewed members of the public about what home means to them. A film of this project can be viewed at https://www.harriethill.co.uk/home-wakefield
HOME-ing embodies the universal and the personal. It is a bold, walking word sculpture that will capture people’s imagination as it passes by. As she journeys, Harriet will explore how her childhood experience of moving from urban South London to rural Wales in the 1970s made her feel both an outsider and at home in the two locations. Passing through many diverse communities she will investigate the commonalities and differences in how people relate to home, revealing a snap-shot of the British public at this transitional moment in UK history.
Harriet is a visual artist with a distinction in MFA in Textiles from Goldsmiths University. She creates sculpture, site-specific installation and interactive live art that explores the emotive qualities of materials, physical space and social frameworks. Her work has been selected for Politics in Art show at MOCAK, Krakow 2022 and she was commissioned by Art in the Churches in 2019 to create an installation in rural Yorkshire. Details of other work and exhibitions can be found at: www.harriethill.co.uk
“HOME is a potent word, particularly now with Brexit, the refugee crisis, rising homelessness and the impact of COVID lockdowns. It can mean a place, a physical structure, a deep emotional bond or an absence of any of these. For me, wearing this unwieldy costume is an absurdist personal and political act; a visualisation of liberation and ties, the burden and comfort and feelings of belonging and isolation that ”home” can be.” - Harriet Hill
For further information please contact: Harriet Hill - harrietlhill@gmail.com - 07931213438
Attached is an itinerary of the walk and any updated information about the project will be posted here: www.harriethill.co.uk/home-ing
Follow harrietlhill on Instagram #homeingproject https://www.instagram.com/harrietlhill
This QR code will offer a direct link to the HOME-ing web page:
