Yana Poppe

"The diptych 'Home is around the corner’ is about my longing to return home, but not remembering where it is or what it felt like. The two different paths in each painting depict my ongoing search. The title of the diptych is in fact wishful thinking: I wouldn’t be able to recognize a home that I can’t even remember. I was uprooted and displaced from Indonesia when I was six weeks old. The theme of this Virtual Residency was pride. To me pride is to embrace and reclaim parts of my Indonesian identity. Additionally, the title of each painting refers to how we make choices. Do we choose the path that feels familiar, or rather the unknown? Do we love red-striped cats and therefore choose that path? To me, each choice carries the weight of grief of never knowing the other path." (Yana Poppe, 2023)