Caroline Holder

Homeland Insecurity (13)

2006

This expansive work is demonstrative of the intricate ceramic sculptural works that Caroline Holder creates to convey themes of migration, Caribbean-diasporic identity, and the domestic sphere. It is a reflection on society and human interaction in the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attack in New York City, addressing an environment of fear infiltrating family life. In an artist statement about the nature of "Homeland Insecurity" on its installation in the 2018 exhibition Arrivants: Art & Migration in the Anglophone Caribbean World at the Barbados Museum & Historical Society, Holder states:

"The nuclear family together at dinner has traditionally symbolized a secure, desirable social norm. A dinner set serving disturbing images at the site of the eating ritual was an excellent vehicle to address the discomfort that infiltrated homes post 9-11. Each setting comprises a dinner plate, a salad plate, a soup bowl, a cup and saucer and a tumbler. The tale of personal unease begins on the dinner plates, each showing a child's drawing of a house. The drawing is stereotypical in every aspect save for the burning plane flying into the house. On the back, children's blocks spell WMD (weapons of mass destruction). The salad bowls bring us to governmental surveillance, with phones that have been "tapped". Conversations flow from the devices, for the most part stunningly banal. The foot doubles as the ring of a magnifying glass, zooming in on streams of meaningless patter."

ARTIST:

Caroline Holder

ARTWORK TITLE:

Homeland Insecurity (13)

MEDIUM:

Metal, Ceramic
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