The installation Milieu evokes my transitional domestic space as a locus to explore the intersections of spatial perception, history, and memory in forming a sense of place. I am interested in the ways people internalize places, how places shape our perception, and reciprocally, how the spaces we create reflect cultures and shared histories.
Creating an environment comprised of found objects, textiles, and oil paintings, I consider the siloing of art and life through processes passed down by my grandmother, a painter, and my great-grandmother, a seamstress. Slow and repetitive, like hand-painting a couch frame with a small brush, they are contemplative acts. Similar to sewing, altering found objects signifies adapting to an unfamiliar environment—finding cultural commonalities and reconciling the present with the past. The patterns in Milieu derive from my touchstone places’ natural, built, and cultural landscapes. They represent the minutiae of places and the routines of daily life—repeated behaviors I establish, disrupt, and replace within new contexts.
Milieu coalesces images and objects found in my new daily environment with other places I have known intimately, collectively impacting how I sense and interpret my surroundings. I see domestic spaces as living archives uniquely inscribed with personal and socio-cultural significance. Dwellings can symbolize privacy, comfort, and contentment, yet isolation, constraint, and listlessness. These dichotomies echo my complex relationship with what I have identified as home.
Bridget Enderle, 2021
Oil on canvas, 60” x 48”