Chez Moi {Home}

My name is Hope and my life is messy…. I want to learn the language of light. I want to know the beauty of brokenness and the brokenness of beauty. The DNA of heaven held in my heart, trying to find home here amongst the many. My name is hope and my life is messy. Hope is defined as the feeling of expectation and the dream for something to happen. My name has inspired a life long creative search for joy, beauty, adventure, color, community, and connection. To hope is to not yet have, yet hold close. These are my prayers and promises written in ink, portraits of light. Messy like me, full of mistakes and typos, caught in between heaven and home. 

I am motivated by light. I want to speak the language of light through photography, poetry, performance and art practice. My name Hope motivates me to seek out light amidst brokenness and injustice.

Lately I've been thinking a whole lot about home. *(Bless all my roommates and family that have joined in the never ending journey and questioning of home) Language is tricky and makes translation an adventure. In French "Chez-moi" is the closest phrase to home. It means roughly where you are. Where one self rests. There's an element of distance, destination and dwelling. My time in Paris has been marked by the extremes of light and darkness. From working with victims of sex trafficking to befriending refugees juxtaposed with visiting the Louvre and walking along the Seine. I desire to build bridges in culture through creating conversations and rewriting narratives. I am motivated by story, a longing for home, differences in culture and creating community through art My name is Hope. I am motivated… by light, to find a home in midst of two cultures, to tell the story and make meaning of the mess. What is home? We are all hungry for it. Looking left and right for furniture, places to rest, people to share food with. We crave and curate spaces to hold our lives. Our hearts long for the fullness of comfort, acceptance and belonging. It all begins on an intimate and personal level.On the personal, local and global level “home” is undefinable. Spiritually, culturally, politically and historically home is where we are safe, secure and yet it is temporary, fragile and imperfect. Home is a place of comfort as well as pain and brokenness. There is a nostalgia and safety we tie to the idea of home that we as humans long for. 

As an american in Paris “Where are you from?” is a constant question asked in the context of living abroad. Where do I belong? Where do I fit in? In the past 5 years I have moved over 8 times. Boxes, suitcases and goodbyes have become normal. The excitement and adventure of moving comes also with chaos and loss of community. Moving into a new space means new neighbors and the search for authentic relationships. The personal becomes local. Paris is known for its international community, a revolving door of sorts.

The Greek word for peacemaker is eirenepoios, which literally means “peace poet”. The word suggests that peace is something which may be crafted or made. A camera and a typewriter are my weapons in cultivating and creating peace. Images and words are strongly connected in sharing stories and creating narratives. It is my hope to use art as a catalyst to awaken, engage, refine and restore humanity.  

-Hope Curran-

Join me in this journey June 14-26 in Paris at the Pavé D'Orsay gallery (48 Rue de lille). I'd be honoured to hear your story, share a cup of tea and define home together. vernissage: June 14 starting at 6:30pm

more information here

If you are too far to be here in the flesh (home is often far away), follow the journey through instagram

@photohope

@hopefulforhomme

#hopefulforhome