What is a Home?

Malak and Victoria have done their exam project in HF Visual Arts together

In the recent week at Grenaa Gymnasium one could get an impression of two girls’ very different childhood homes.

What seems today to them to have been important at the age of 12?

The first year HF Visual Arts students have been working on their exam projects recently and Malak Ahmad and Victoria Ringling created an installation that illustrated their memories of their childhood homes in one tiny room.

Visiting the installation would activate most senses with fragrances, tastes and the different feel of a Danish bed compared to an Arab. On one bed you could browse through a Barbie magazine, on the other bed was the Quran.

“Nothing is left to chance in the installation,” Malak explains. “All the items have a meaning, and the table in the middle illustrate what guests are treated with in Denmark and in Arab culture. At the same time it lends structure to the installation.”

In Victorias part of the installation is among other things the cover of her first smartphone and her first make-up kit with tinsel and glitter. At Malak’s there are many photos, some of them school photos with kids in school uniforms. Among them them is Malak no doubt.

The “walls” in Victorias part of the installation are white whereas Malak’s are gloomy. “This is of course also not a coincidence,” Malak explains.

The enthusiasm of the two girls when explaining about their work is obvious. They confess that they spent more time on it than was actually available and they skipped one of their other classes to finish in time. “But we had to do that. It was necessary,” Malak says. It was important.