At the heart of my art is the search for belonging, stability, and connection. Spanning Newfoundland and Ireland, this project was focused on the impact of immigration, displacement, integration and the tension between stability and transience. Inspired by my time as an artist-in-residence in the Republic of Ireland, I became captivated by the chimneys of abandoned houses, structures that stand as silent witnesses to the lives once lived within their walls. Using the chimney as a focus – a ubiquitous necessity and centre of the home both physically and metaphorically – my intention was to bridge the Atlantic divide, reflecting on shared histories, kinship and the uncanny familiarity between these places.

In the project The Same Ocean I was reflecting on the impacts of immigration, both on the immigrant and on the communities left behind by focusing on the homes that have been abandoned or washed away, and the stories that are lost with them. My own family history has been impacted by economic immigration and resettlement. My ancestors were forced to leave their communities and relations. They tried to not only survive in this unfamiliar place but to make it a home. “Home” was not just a physical structure; it was a series of adaptations, compromises, and hard-won efforts to create a sense of permanence and belonging in a world that felt constantly in flux. Communities grew, survived, thrived and just as quickly, died or were forced to resettle.  As a multi-generational Newfoundlander who has emigrated, and returned,  I have felt unsettled, in between, neither fully at home in one place nor fully removed from another. The absence of permanence and the struggle to create meaning from this instability forms a central narrative in my work.

The chimney has historically been the heart of the home, a gathering place for warmth and community. Structurally, the chimney is robust and provides the functional necessity of heat and a cooking source. When houses collapse and crumble, they often remain standing. I am intrigued by this enduring structure as a symbol of resilience and connection to a shared history.

With this in mind found bricks were collected from the beaches of Newfoundland — which I imagine to have been washed ashore from abandoned homes — to create small life-sized sculptures, with materials such as wax. These sculptures will feel robust, solid and permanent, but by necessity they are hollow, and lightweight. The seabricks will represent both permanence and fragility.