HEART IS WHERE THE HOME IS was painted between September 2010 and November 2011 but the idea was conceived long before that.

I had made a series of sewn and painted canvases in 2006 called The Self Inside. These were inspired, if that’s the right word, by dementia and clinical depression suffered by a family member and a close friend respectively. They were about the fragility of our sense of self and the need to feel whole and at home inside oneself. One of these paintings took the form of a cloak, as have a few others of my works – a cloak wraps around a person and keeps him/her warm, maybe protects him/her.

Later, in 2009, I made a group of paintings about some of the psychological effects of migration. These were connected to my own experience of migration from England to New Zealand and the fact that my great grandparents had come to England in the 19^th century as Jewish refugees from persecution in Eastern Europe. These paintings were made very much in the spirit of empathy with present day refugees. Again, they were concerned with the sense of self and being at home within oneself.

I also made a long series of works derived from the rose in 2008.  I was interested in the wrapped aroundness of the petals of the rose. This is partly sensual and even sexual but also has a nurturing feel. This series ended with a number of small sculptures that were painted paper and aluminium and were totally about wrapped aroundness. When I made these sculptures, I was already wanting to make something large enough for the viewer to walk inside and feel wrapped around…….

I thought and talked about HEART IS WHERE THE HOME IS for a pretty long time, with valuable input from several people, before having it constructed. It’s a spiral form made in 22 curved panels of MDF framed with pine. On the outside, where you enter, it’s 86cm high and rises to 2.3m at the innermost part. It takes up about 3.5m of floor space each way. On the outside of the curve, it’s painted in mainly blues and greens with some purple, brown and gold and is suggestive of sea. On the inside of the curve, the painting goes from English woodland and New Zealand bush and landscape through to a warm living room in the heart of the sculpture. It’s painted in water mixable oils.

HEART IS WHERE THE HOME IS has taken a lot of thought, time and money to produce with input from others for which I am incredibly grateful. It’s been a labour of love that has been partly about self expression but also very much about inviting others to enjoy being around it and inside it – and hoping it makes them feel good. I very much hope the people of Christchurch and visitors to our city will come and see it during its 2 outings in January/February. I hope even more that it finds a permanent home in a public building in Christchurch.

Judy Rogers (December 2011)