In this interview we’re taking a look at Elizabeth Ransom’s most recent series Homesick, which you could see more of on her website here.
Artist Statement:
In the series, Homesick, Ransom invited ten women and non-binary immigrants to share their stories and memories of homesickness in written form. They also provided a list of liquids that remind them of one of the places they called home such as coffee, chicken broth, pisco sours, and kefir. She then soaked a roll of 35mm color film in the liquid for one hour for every day since they had returned to that location. This work was created in the middle of the global COVID-19 pandemic when countries had closed their borders and travel was at a standstill. This was the first time for many of the participants that they had not had the option to travel back home to see their families and loved ones. The experience of homesickness was exacerbated for many resulting in physical and emotional symptoms. For some of the participants, it had been many years since they had returned home. The longer that the participant had been away the longer the film was left to soak in the liquid. The emulsion slowly deteriorating over time. The heat of the liquids warped and distorted the negatives resulting in brightly coloured destroyed rolls of film.
An Interview about Homesick:
- What are you exactly looking at in your Homesick series, what are you hoping to explore?
Homesick explores the complex experience of homesickness and nostalgia for immigrants living away from their place of origin. The term nostalgia itself derives from the Greek word nostos, meaning return home, and algos meaning pain. Many regard homesickness as a childish affliction often felt by children at summer camp when they are missing their parents and want to go home. However, it is a serious mental health condition that often manifests with somatic or bodily symptoms. These physical symptoms can include body aches, insomnia, difficulties with memory, gastrointestinal issues, immune deficiencies, and even diabetes. As an immigrant myself who has experienced homesickness, I wanted to learn from other immigrants what it was like for them.
- How did you find the ten volunteers you chose for the project?
When I first started this project, I was working for an online creative community called Work Show Grow founded by British artist and educator Natasha Caruana. This organization brings artists together from all over the world to support each other and learn about the inner workings of what it takes to be an artist. During the pandemic I felt an immense disconnect from America, the place I had called home for fifteen years. I was living in the south of England where there were incredibly strict lockdown restrictions in place. I was living alone and only allowed to leave the house for one hour a day to go on a walk. It was an uncertain time and it had been two years since I had seen my loved ones and I had no idea when I might see them again. I put a message on the Work Show Grow online message board to see if anyone else was going through the same thing I was and I was inundated with messages of support and heart-breaking stories from immigrants stuck abroad with no idea of when they may return home. These messages turned into conversations and these conversations turned into the “Homesick” project. The ten women and nonbinary artists that I worked with on this project are those who shared their stories and messages of kindness with me during an incredibly difficult time.
- Color seems to be an important part of this collection; were you expecting this to be the result of the destroyed film when you started this project?
The wonderful thing about the film soup process is that you never know what you are going to get. The element of chance plays a significant role in this technique. You must trust the method and give over control to the process. I knew that heat would warp the plastic of the film and I knew that certain chemicals would react to the emulsion, but I had no clue what colors or distortions would appear. Each immigrant provided a list of drinks or liquids that reminded them of home. These liquids ranged from pisco sours to homegrown mint tea. Each liquid interacted with the surface of the photographic negative in very different ways. Some rolls of film emerged untouched while others were warped with the emulsion falling off it.
- You explain that you soaked the film for one hour for every day since they had returned to their previous home, but how long did this project take?
I began planning the project about 6 months before I started soaking any rolls of film. It took around four months to get ethics approval from my university. As I was working with immigrants It was important to me that my work was created in an environment that was conscious of the trauma that can often surround migration. I didn’t want my participants to experience any kind of emotional distress by taking part in this work. The soaking of the film itself ranged from 2 to 47 days. For around a month and a half, I had plastic containers filled with various liquids sitting on my kitchen counter. Some of the liquids immediately reacted with the film fizzing and bubbling to the surface. Others slowly grew mold and emitted some foul smells. After the film had soaked, I washed and processed the film by hand. As the rolls of film had been contaminated by the various liquids, I couldn’t send them off to a lab as they could have caused damage to their machines. I then scanned the negatives, and I am currently experimenting with various presentation methods. I am also considering how to combine the letters written by the immigrants about their experience of film soup. I’m aiming to have the work ready for my solo exhibition in November 2024.
Elizabeth also provided us with a poem written by one of the participants Mimi Fuenzalida:
You could visit Elizabeth’s website to learn more about this project and others by clicking this link here.