Selection of custom collage made by Duha Al Nasir, specific to "Emergence" (part 1 of 4).

As one of the submissions to our Open Call for July's theme of "Domesticity," Duha Al Nasir tackled the challenge of envisioning her version of the next Case Study home, riffing on the realtor "ad" prompt with a rumination on the very nature of home. Al Nasir locates the essential home within the nexus of experience, likening it to an "emotional suitcase" and concluding that ultimately, one's home is not a physical enclosure but a metaphor for a sense of self.

Emergence: Home Beyond Boundaries

by Duha Al Nasir

"To put a roof over someone’s head” is a phrase associated with the creation of a sense of security by providing a sheltering space for an individual. But what defines that space or entity we call “Home”? We are constantly flooded with advertisements about that “dream home” that could one day be ours. That “perfectly” situated, pre-designed soulless space container which encloses our existence. It’s marketed to us as that piece of heaven where our kids can happily and safely grow up. Well, I have previously lived in this urban dream of my generation and I can say that it was nowhere close to what I would call home.

Home is a place that induces the feeling of oneness with one’s surroundings, regardless of the nature of these surroundings. It’s a place where doors and windows are not tools of exclusions, but opportunities, time frames through which one carries their memories. Home is not defined by its spatial terms, costs, or location, but byI have previously lived in this urban dream of my generation and I can say that it was nowhere close to what I would call homethe value it adds to the simplest daily tasks carried out by its users. People usually make the mistake of believing that home is where nothing can go wrong, it is our secure place, where there are no consequences for being ourselves. To me, that is just another exclusion practice imposed on us by the modern definitions of what home is. The true sense of home is not created by the arrangement of vertical and horizontal planes that make up our living spaces, by the neighbourhood, or even by that huge iron gate. I felt the most secure when I was a 3-year-old playing with sand at the local park and knew nothing about spatial configurations. Why? Because I was carrying home with me. That emotional suitcase or black box that gave me the strength to know I was capable of retaining all my memories and the things that made me who I was when things went wrong. This black box is not defined by a location, but the mindset that we are constantly moving through frames of opportunity, unchanged by the difference of circumstances.

this sleeping bag is the portable piece of home that we each own and can pack and take anywhereI started this article by referring to the common correlation between the roof and concept of home. It had to be a roof, not a wall, a window, or anything else. To me, this is a metaphor, an indication that the goal is not to be sheltered from our surroundings but merely bad weather. Which brings me to my definition of a perfect home; the sleeping bag. In addition to evoking the feelings I described earlier, this sleeping bag is the portable piece of home that we each own and can pack and take anywhere. Materialistically, it’s made of supportive and durable materials that imitate the shape of the body. Ideally, this home is just big enough to accommodate the user comfortably and shield from bad weather. Because home is not an enclosure, it’s a metaphor, an opportunity, and a passport. We each are our own home.

This piece was submitted to our open call for July 2016's special editorial theme, Domesticity. Check out related content here.