2. CLOSE ISN’T HOME
Close isn’t Home is a website that provides space for sharing narratives, information, and resources for intersectional, black, indigenous, and people of color identities. The website consists of an interactive game and a commenting section that prompts online discussion. Close isn’t Home records culturally specific objects as points of empathy, normalizing their definitions and connotations beyond the label of “cultural object”. It is a collaborative virtual space that is also a space of accessibility, familiarity, and reflection.
Grace Kwon @glasskwon and Samantha Vassor @svassor are the founders/artists behind Close isn’t Home. As artists and designers, they wanted to create a collaborative project that was meant to navigate their experiences, identities, and cultures. Beyond this, they wanted to expand their creative practices towards further collaboration with other BIPOC. Through different project developments, they hope to use digital art as a means of appreciation and preservation of cultural differences. Close isn’t Home is inspired by their Sunday dinner conversations with close friends. Grace and Sam wanted to expand this sense of community beyond their own circles.
“Refusing Refusal means reenvisioning what digital art looks like on an online and accessible platform. Our experiences, our foods, and our traditions were not represented or easily accessible as 3D resources. Refusal is normalizing our narratives in digital art and design spaces.”