What gets lost when an individual voluntarily or involuntarily leaves his or her country of origin, and what gets translated and saved at the end of the process? Which dreams become fulfilled, and which are surrendered? What is celebrated, and what is mourned? Which responsibilities are shed, and which new ones are shouldered? As immigrants change and adapt to their new surroundings, they transform themselves, and in the process transform the society they have entered.

This multi-screen installation chronicles the individual journey and conversations “creative-class” immigrants have with themselves and their surroundings, the multiple ways in which they reflect on and understand the cumulative choices that have led them to a life far away from the known and the familiar. By interlacing intimate interviews with modern dance sequences, the directors hope to establish a conversation between the visual and the verbal; between what is thought, said, and felt. Multiple screens speak to the contradictory impulses that define the reality of most immigrants; the push and pull of countries, families, and cultures; and the powerful sense of purpose and belonging that can strangely coexist with an equally acute sense of alienation.

Support for Home and Away was provided by The University of New Orleans and The Newcomb College Institute. This program is supported in part by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans and administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans.