Draw Me a Home is a series of new artworks by interdisciplinary artist Idit Elia Nathan. Rooted in the artist’s family history of resettlement, the project responds to Luton’s rich history of migration and the unique impact coronavirus has had on our experiences and connections with the spaces we inhabit.

Conceived before the unprecedented outbreak, Nathan began with a series of playful consultations across the town, inviting people to share their perceptions of ‘home’. These sessions were typical of the artist’s approach to exploring poignant issues through discussion and informal, participatory activities. The unforeseen lockdown forced these encounters to take place through social media, with Nathan engaging Lutonians through questions and provocations.

How we live radically shifted during this period: our domestic spaces transformed into confined sites of work, rest and play. This created an urgent new context for public and artistic responses, reflected in the drawings, audio visual work and interactive sculpture on display in Departure Lounge’s street-facing windows as well as online.  

Phone Home is an interactive installation presented as a hanging mobile. The sculpture is formed of a grid made up of an extraordinary array of dozens of phone cards collected from all over the world. Similar to the traditional postcard, the design of each one reflects its place of origin and shares the intention of connecting people to loved ones. A free-phone number etched in vinyl on the gallery’s front door invites curiosity. Awaiting a listening ear is a selection of short stories alongside a prompt to leave a message of one’s own. Drawing on the personal yet universal associations of the places we live or were born in, the work reminds us that geographical distance can reinforce the sense of familiarity, family and refuge we associate with ‘home’.

I See You and You see Me exists in the gallery window and online in the form of two webcam feeds. The first is set directly within the artist’s own home and is transmitted on a monitor positioned in the gallery window. Focused on her lounge, the camera offers 24/7 insight into her domestic space and glimpses of personal possessions and objects contained within its frame. The second camera looks out onto Luton’s Bute Street, capturing the rhythms of everyday life and passers-by. Both streams sit side-by-side online - available to view on Departure Lounge’s website - chronicling this uncertain moment in history.  

Finally, The Blind Spot Drawings Series include nine abstracted, ‘scribbly’ lined compositions that reflect public responses to the artist’s prompts. Visually, they take their cue from old-fashioned games and 3-D illusionary pictures that require close attention before the true image becomes visible. Scenes of domestic life and the outside world through windows and imaginary drones are hidden from immediate view. In these troubling and uncertain times, against the backdrop of the pandemic and the shockwaves caused by the death of George Floyd, they ask us to consider what we witness and what we choose to ignore. What are our personal and collective blindspots?

Draw Me a Home is generously funded by Arts Council England. It is organised by Departure Lounge, in partnership with The Culture Trust, Luton and with the collaboration of curator Natalie Pace. With special thanks to the support provided by Revoluton Arts, Luton.