Minglu Zhang

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Critical Reflection - Unit 1


Keywords： Migration,  Home,  Belonging,  Fluidity,  Identity, Maternal Attachment.


Sun Jan 12 2025

The relationship between migration and home can be likened to an eternal paradox: home is both the point of departure and the destination, while migration itself reshapes, extends, and even deconstructs the concept of home. In an era marked by wars, economic crises, and intense ideological clashes, people are forced to migrate globally, resembling migratory birds leaving their homes involuntarily. When the questions “Where do I come from?” and “Where do I belong?” no longer align, a crisis of social self-identity emerges. Discussing the definition of home thus becomes an effort to reclaim human subjectivity and reflect on how to construct social identity and belonging.

Traditionally, home has been perceived as a stable, fixed space—a symbol of safety and belonging. As Gaston Bachelard wrote in The Poetics of Space (1964), home is also a container for emotions and memories within social life. While Bachelard provided profound insights into the static emotional essence of home, this definition appears idealized and partial in the context of modern globalization, as it fails to address the diverse processes of home construction during migration. In this sense, the notion of a fixed home becomes an overly idealized narrative that fails to address the complex perceptions of home experienced by migrants. Migrants disrupt the assumption of home as a fixed sanctuary through geographic movement, transforming it into a constantly renegotiated dynamic construct.

When I followed my mother to the city where she worked and lived, I felt an unusual sense of security despite my lack of deep cultural and temporal connections to the place. My mother, as a guardian figure, was strong, determined, and resolute, much like a robust and nurturing female eagle. The home she recognized always included a place for me, her child. At that moment, the concept of home resembled a shattered mirror, with the original form fragmented into multiple irregular shapes that reorganized themselves into a new order—each fragment retaining its original function. As Saloni Mathur (2011) observed in The Migrant's Time: Rethinking Art History and Diaspora, a migrant’s home is a hybrid and continuously reconstructed entity. Yet migration does not always render home purely fluid; instead, it manifests a state of multiple belongings. Marta Bivand Erdal (2014) found that migrants often balance emotional and spatial affiliations between "here" and "there." This multidimensional notion of home reflects the ability of migrants to navigate home and belonging in transnational social fields. She discovered that migrants simultaneously situate "home" through emotional and rational means in both their past homeland and their current settlement, illustrating the coexistence of home’s unique fluidity and stability.

This extended state transforms home into a recognition that transcends geographic boundaries. Why is the traditional concept of home reconstructed in the context of social migration? Ruta Muktupavela and Janīna Kursīte (2022) suggest that in liquid modernity, the intensification of global capital flows and human migration leads to fragmented identities and the marginalization of local belonging. The stability of the concept of home is thus challenged, gradually transforming into a psychological symbol rather than a tangible physical presence. Home becomes more of a container for memories and emotions rather than a specific geographic space. Similarly, Bachelard (1964) noted in The Poetics of Space, “home is the original space to which we dream of returning.” This static perspective frames home as a core of shelter and belonging. Migration pushes this static attribute of home toward fluidity and multiplicity. So when migration uproots individuals from their original spaces, how can home and belonging be reconstructed?

In my artistic practice, I attempt to organically construct multiplicity and reconfigurability through visual forms. This feeling mirrors Alexander Calder’s dynamic sculptures, which exist in a relatively eternal state of motion. Inspired by this, I experimented with assembling my prints in a modular form, akin to LEGO bricks. This approach resonates with how my ancestors used movable type for printmaking—a method involving identical units that remain fluid in form and combination. My goal was to recreate a material sense of fluidity. After experimenting with lithography, zinc etching, and screen printing, I chose composite printing on metallic cardstock. Cardstock offers high malleability; its shape can be altered with scissors and craft knives. Due to its thinness, it can also be layered freely. After printing, the plate shows a unique texture, allowing me to explore the most suitable balance of material and thickness through etching.

However, the concept of home is not entirely without foundation. There must always be a core to one’s sense of home—it can be a tangible, material object or a spiritual anchor. For me, this unchanging element in the midst of dynamic migration is deeply tied to my mother. Perhaps this stems from an attachment to the maternal role. Psychologist John Bowlby, in Attachment and Loss, describes attachment theory as follows: the mother is critical to a child’s early formation of security, providing psychological shelter. This attachment does not remain confined to childhood but extends into emotional identity in adulthood. In the context of migration, this attachment becomes particularly significant, as my mother’s recognition of her new home became a psychological projection for me. However, this projection of desire can also transform into a constraint upon the identity of the mother herself.

This paradox reminds me of Louise Bourgeois’s Maman (1999), the iconic spider sculpture. Bourgeois described the spider as a tribute to her mother, symbolizing protection and nurturing. Standing beneath the enormous sculpture, one feels insignificant; the enveloping structure conveys a sense of dominance and oppression, while simultaneously providing comfort, safety, and protection against danger. The spider symbolizes both confinement and fear. This coexistence of constraint and protection creates a complex maternal metaphor, achieved through the spider’s animalistic and cultural identity.

 

 

For me, the migratory red-crowned cranes of my hometown embody a similar symbolism. These birds migrate across the earth for survival. Like them, my mother also migrated, leaving during the winter and returning in the spring, achieving a kind of synchronicity. As such, I chose my mother, myself, and the migratory birds as central subjects in my work. Through their interplay and projection, I aim to depict an ambiguous vision of home within the context of migration.

However, if I were to stop at this personal level, it would remain a lyrical expression grounded in my own experience. During this process, I reflected on how to elevate this projection of home into a contemplation of universal significance. In migration, the role of the "mother" inevitably carries duality. Much like a spider, the act of binding signifies both protection and constraint. Does this binding conflict with the pursuit of identity independence?

Migratory birds also hold another layer of meaning for me. The red-crowned cranes of my hometown have been listed as endangered species. This phenomenon has become alarmingly commonplace, happening daily. Animals, or rather their habitats, reveal their fragility under human activity. While migratory birds demonstrate flexibility, their journeys also expose their dependence on and vulnerability to the environment. Although I often attempt to frame everything within a context of peace and healing, the fluid sense of belonging experienced by migrants in new environments is frequently constrained by cultural, social, and even political forces. This, perhaps, represents the norm we are familiar with, as migration cannot entirely overturn emotional reliance on the concept of home but reshapes it in new ways.

Sergey V. Mostikov (2015) pointed out that the transformation of home in migration is more a combination of psychological escape and future expectations. When migrants rebuild psychological belonging in new social realities, they carry emotional imprints associated with their original homeland. This reconstruction often involves a redefinition of self-identity, rendering home a dynamic and hybrid concept that both carries original memories and imbues new cultural significance. This introduces a discussion about the fragility of migration.

This fragility reminds me of Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth (2007), exhibited at Tate Modern. Salcedo described the work as representing “borders, the experience of immigrants, the experience of segregation, the experience of racial hatred” (Tate Modern, 2007). After the exhibition, the crack in the floor was filled in, leaving a visible scar. Salcedo’s work resonates deeply with the tensions of migration, where borders and ruptures leave permanent marks, reflecting the constraints and unease faced by migrants in their pursuit of belonging. Similarly, the fluidity of home is not always a positive experience. For many, it brings unease and anxiety—a reality I strive to address within a framework of reflection and healing.







   


References

1. Bachelard, G. (1964) The Poetics of Space. Translated by M. Jolas. Boston: Beacon Press.
2. Mathur, S. (2011) The Migrant’s Time: Rethinking Art History and Diaspora. Clark Studies in the Visual Arts. New Haven: Yale University Press.
3. Erdal, M.B. (2014). This is My Home. Comparative Migration Studies, [online] Available at: https://typeset.io/papers/this-is-my-home-s9d6go6scg?utm_source=chatgpt [Accessed 17 Jan. 2025].
   
4. Muktupavela, R. & Kursīte, J. (2022). The concept of “my father’s home” as an anchor for Latvian “solid identity” constructions in the era of “liquid modernity”. Culture Crossroads, [online] Available at: https://typeset.io/papers/the-concept-of-my-father-s-home-as-an-anchor-for-latvian-pxa03l2b?utm_source=chatgpt [Accessed 17 Jan. 2025].
   
5. Bowlby, J. (1969) Attachment and Loss: Volume I: Attachment. London: Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis.
   
6. Tate Modern (2007) Doris Salcedo: Shibboleth. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/ (Accessed: 13 January 2025).
7. Mostikov, S.V. (2015). Correlation of Migration Processes and the Social Concept of “Home”. Interdisciplinary Analysis of Migration, [online] Available at: https://typeset.io/papers/correlation-of-migration-processes-and-the-social-concept-of-3whegf5hhc?utm_source=chatgpt [Accessed 17 Jan. 2025].
   
8. Wikipedia (n.d.) Maman (1999). Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/ (Accessed: 13 January 2025).

© Minglu Zhang