Photos from Homesick.
“Homesick
I define it as...
Not a metaphor. Not an idea.
Being homesick is an inherited condition. It is a condition of colonialism.
My ancestors are from Sitnasuaq, Alaska. My grandmother was the last one of us to
come from Home.
She was born at our family’s fishing camp up north by the Eldorado River.
She knew when to pick the ripest salmon berries and how to scrape the baleen from a
bowhead whale. She was raised by the ice.
She was raised in Sitnasuaq until she was five when missionaries took my grandmother
from Home and brought her to Seward where she attended residential school. She left
when she was 19.
In school, homesickness was taught. Through assimilation, my grandmother became
homesick.
Being homesick is an inherited condition. It is a condition of colonialism.
I only know what being homesick means through my own inheritance. It is my intention
to learn from others about their homesickness, to learn from storytellers and artists, from people like myself and people not like me at all.
It is my hope to understand that homesickness can have different meanings through
these stories, and through these people. That being homesick can be more than just our
wound.
What does it mean to be homesick?”
Homesick is divided into three parts…
An essay + photo book
An art gallery + community gathering
A book
The essay + photo book - the printed media made for my thesis at The New School. The book oscillates between essays about my own homesickness as an Indigenous person in the diaspora, different conversations and stories about homesickness from others, and photos and archives of my family. The published conversations were contributed by Charitie Ropati, Somah Haaland, Emma Karamdashti, HOMESICK, and Laney Jade. Homesick, the essay + photo book, was the catalyst for this ongoing project.
Homesick, In Celebration - an art gallery and community gathering held at the American Indian Community House for one night only, in July 2026. I asked my close friends and relatives to showcase their art relating to their homesickness and Indigenous identity. The artists included Gabby Severson, Kris Waymire, and Sage Ahebah Addington. The event was dedicated as “a night to celebrate our homesickness,” inviting people to engage with art, make community, and share stories of being homesick.
Homesick is the book I am working on. It is an extension of the first two parts of Homesick. The book is dedicated to my grandmother, Jane.