House/Home Project

  • Christiana St.

    Christiana St.

    My first home. We lived on the first floor and I shared the one bedroom space with my parents until I was 5 years old.

  • Gillett house

    Gillett house

    My father moved us here when I was 5 years old. My sister was born while we lived here. Shortly after, my parents seperated and my father stayed in the house for many years. I would visit him there on the weekends until I was about 11 years old.

  • Morris Ave.

    Morris Ave.

    I moved here with my mother and sister after my parents divorce when I was in 1st grade. We lived in the two bedroom apartment on the first floor.

  • Sunrise Court

    Sunrise Court

    My mother, sister and I moved into this low-income housing development on a cul de sac when I was in 3rd grade.

  • Terry Lane

    Terry Lane

    My mother and stepfather bought this house after they were married when I was in 6th grade.

  • Uncle Todd's House

    Uncle Todd's House

    We lived here with my Uncle Todd and his daughters for a few months before we moved to Spain when I was in the 7th grade.

  • Virgin del Mar

    Virgin del Mar

    We moved into this apartment in Rota, Spain when I was in the 7th grade. It was a intermediate home while we waited to move into military housing.

  • 1441 USA Housing

    1441 USA Housing

    We moved in this miltary house on US Naval Station Rota, Spain when I was in 8th grade.

  • College Ave.

    College Ave.

    We moved to this house briefly after my mother, sister and I returned from Spain. My Stepfather was stationed in Guam at the time. The house was later demolished for condo development.

  • Marhill

    Marhill

    I moved into this hiome to live with my Aunt Linda and Uncle Jack while I finished High School when my mother moved to Guam to join my Stepfather Rex. When I was 20 and broke in college, I moved back in with here for a year.

  • Phoebe

    Phoebe

    This was my first apartment that I lived in for a few months. I did not feel safe, so I moved in with a friend.

  • Lawton Foundry

    Lawton Foundry

    I lived in this renovated foundry for a year with my friend Sean Bomar until he joined the Army.

  • George St.

    George St.

    I lived here alone for a couple months by myself, but found myself broke and moved back in with my Aunt and Uncle on Marhill.

  • Cabin in Allouez

    Cabin in Allouez

    I rented a room from a college friend whom I met on a trip to Peru for a year here.

  • College Ave.

    College Ave.

    I lived on the second floor here with a college friend for a year.

  • The Blue House

    The Blue House

    No longer blue, but I rented this house from a woman who used it as a summer home. I shared the space one year with Christal Cheslock and Gavin Ward. The subsequent year with my college buddy, Wendy Miller.

  • Maid's Quarter

    Maid's Quarter

    I lived here for a summer after graduating from college, trying to decide what to do next.

  • Monroe Garden

    Monroe Garden

    I lived here with my friend Ben Frye while we saved money to travel around the world.

  • Brian the Van

    Brian the Van

    Ben Frye and I lived in this van (named Brian) for 5 months while we traveled around the United States and Baja Califonia. Brian is now retired in LaPaz, Mexico.

  • Grayslake

    Grayslake

    This is my parent's house in Grayslake, IL. I lived here for 6 months while I got back on my feet after traveling around the world.

  • 2525 St. Louis

    2525 St. Louis

    I lived here with Cameo McRoberts and Tatiana Sanchez for my first couple years in Chicago.

  • Wrightwood Ave.

    Wrightwood Ave.

    I lived here with Jane Madden for a year on in the first floor apartment.

  • Coach House

    Coach House

    I lived here for a year and hosted countless croquet parties.

  • Above Bon Bon

    Above Bon Bon

    I lived here for two years, the first with Scott Pfledderer, the second by myself.

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*During 2012-14, I am expanding on this project by re-creating the floor plans and models of each House & Home from memory. I see this as not a technical endeavor to try to make these drawings and models as close as possible to the real thing, but more of an exploration of my own memory in context to scale, emotion, relationships and narrative building.

 

I have taken on the quest of capturing pictures of all the dwellings I have lived in during my short life.  I have moved approximately 26 or 27 times. The totality of this work in progress has left me to ask serious questions about my past and where my future is heading. I do not think of myself as a transient person, just one that has lived a life full of change and experience. The idea for this project came from deep introspection during a move in 2010 to an apartment with a partner to form a home and the difference in our definitions of what the word 'home' meant.

I recently completed taking the last couple of pictures of my homes for the photographic portion of this project while on a trip to Spain in October 2012. Many thanks to my extended military family, Ellie Rauser and Nasy Tun for getting me onto the US Naval Staion Rota and helping me complete this effort.


(Left: Nasy & Ellie, my extended military family Right: Me with the Fruitman, Manolo, still delivering fruit on base)

There are dozens of clichés about the home: "home is where you hang your hat“, "home is where the heart is” and “home is not where you live, but where they understand you”. They are all true.

Each one of these pictures is of a container in which my life’s events have played out. Good, bad, happy, bittersweet, devastating, elating.  I am grateful to all of the wonderful people I have shared these places with and the homes they created with me.