Isle of Man Guide

The new book is a series of short essays exploring the same themes as the temporary exhibition ‘What is this Place called Home?’ which is currently being staged at the Manx Museum. Visitors will have an opportunity to meet the artist Mary Modeen to talk to her about the book and the exhibition and have their copies of the book signed. Following the book launch, Mary Modeen will give a gallery tour of the exhibition ‘What is this Place called Home?’ at 12 noon.

Both the new book and exhibition explore the wide range of thoughts and feelings that people have about ‘home’ and why it is important to them. The book contains five essays which explore the themes of ‘home’, identity and a sense of belonging from a variety of different perspectives and in different contexts around the world. These include senses of identity in Canada and New Zealand through to the meaning of a humble rag rug on the Isle of Man.

“The exhibition ‘What is this place called home?’ has provided an interesting starting point for an exploration of thoughts about the concept of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’ and engages visitors by asking them to consider how they would identify ‘home’ and what gives them a sense of belonging, or not, as the case may be.

The new publication ‘This Place Called Home’ takes these questions further and provides ideas about how different people in different parts of the world consider ‘home’ and a sense of belonging; it also provides several illustrations of the works of art on display in the exhibition. As a result the reader of the book is provided with the best of all worlds with a fascinating series of illustrated essays and an illustrated record of a most thought-provoking exhibition.”

The book and the exhibition are the end result of four weeks fieldwork by Mary Modeen as Artist-in-residence at Cregneash during the summer of 2005. The fieldwork involved talking to a wide variety of people about their thoughts on ‘home’ and ‘belonging’ and also photographing and filming various events around the Island. The new publication ‘This Place Called Home’ is richly illustrated with a wide variety of photographic images ranging from historic archive views of the Island and traditional Manx life to modern images taken by Mary Modeen and illustrations of artwork displayed in the current exhibition.

Mary Modeen is an American-born artist who has worked and taught art at University level in Scotland for the past 18 years. Her artwork ranges from a variety of printmaking techniques but also includes painting, artist books, and sculptural installations, together with the multi-media art installations to be seen in this exhibition. At the root though of all her art is a curiosity about land and landscape, history and culture, memories and identity and all these elements can be seen in her new publication ‘This Place Called Home’ and the Manx exhibition ‘What is this place called home?’.

The book launch and signing will be held in the temporary exhibition gallery, Manx Museum on Saturday 16th September from 10am to 12 noon and will be followed by a gallery tour of the exhibition at 12 noon.

The exhibition ‘What is this Place called Home?’ can be seen on display at the Manx Museum and the associated ‘Healing Earth’ landscape art installations can be found at the Grove, Laxey Wheel and Niarbyl Café. The exhibition will be open until Saturday 7th October and admission is free.

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