What is home? Is it a place? An Idea? A state of mind? Ask around and you’ll probably get into the most interesting conversations of your week. Pauline Vermare, curator at Magnum Photos, had the rare opportunity to explore this complex subject through the eyes and minds of 16 photographers who dug deeply into their experiences to convey the inherently intimate and introspective sentiments it conveys. 

“For some, the difficulty of this project was rooted in the fact or feeling of having more than one ‘home,’ and the yearning to document them all,” Pauline says. “Others chose not to settle down in any one particular place, and had to search for their own definition of the word. To a few, the return to childhood was indeed a rather tormenting journey, and ‘home’ was therefore a surprisingly difficult subject to document. But it was a welcome challenge: an invitation to self-exploration, which resulted in a deeply thoughtful journey. Indeed, for these uprooted, avid travelers, accustomed to exile and a permanent state of inbetweenness, this project constituted a form of therapy.”

© Mark Power, Brighton. England, GB. September 2017; courtesy Magnum Photos

The project, which was done in collaboration with Fujifilm, finally resulted in images by the 16 photographers collected in  a book, 190 of which are currently on view at Milk Gallery in New York. Photographs of the familiar and familial that look inward and outward to the geographical space of home; perceived as a spiritual journey or an existential road trip, the intricacies of family bonds, past and future generations make beautiful tributes to these close connections, often coming together in an elemental and peaceful way.
 

Left: © Hiroji Kubota, Itsukushima Shrine, Japan. 2017; courtesy Magnum Photos

Seen together, Pauline adds, “these photographs also offer a contemporary take on the legendary exhibition The Family of Man, that presented an idyllic humanist vision of the world after the trauma of World War II. These photographs show us how dramatically the world has evolved since 1955, and, with it, the notions of family, home, motherhood and fatherhood.”

Home features work by Antoine d'Agata, Olivia Arthur, Jonas Bendiksen, Chien-Chi Chang, Thomas Dworzak, Elliott Erwitt, David Alan Harvey, Hiroji Kubota, Alex Majoli, Trent Parke, Gueorgui Pinkhassov, Mark Power, Moises Saman, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Alec Soth, and Alex Webb.

Home continues at Milk Gallery in New York through March 14th, then will travel to nine cities around the world. The accompanying photobook is available exclusively from the Magnum Shop and the ten exhibition spaces. A dedicated website presents several videos on the making of Home. Milk Gallery, 450 West 15^th Street, NY, NY. Map

Public programs continue, with events every day throughout the run. Today, photographer Mark Power leads an exhibition tour at 12:30 pm, and will return on Saturday for a tour at 2pm Info CV19.BOOK.PHOTO