Held on 25 April 2025, the workshop invited guests to participate in an afternoon of mark-making and dialogue. Participants were asked ‘what does home mean to you?’ They shared their thoughts while collectively casting and carving into large plaster panels, a making process that cultivated meaningful discussion. As participants exchanged stories that evoked their relationships to home, the gallery transformed into a place of gestural and cultural exchange. Clays and pigments – scented with eucalyptus, tea tree and pine oils – were pressed into the gallery’s walls, creating a sensorial landscape of gesture, touch and narrative that responds to the idea of ‘indigenising’ the institution.

The installation advocates for new ways of working together through story-led making. It considers how we mark the places we visit and how in turn we ourselves are marked. As Emily McDaniel asked in the accompanying lecture, if we designed projects as if they were our home, how would this change the way we design?

With thanks to all who took part – especially Dr Michael Mossman, Professor Emily McDaniel and Jack Gillmer-Lilley, the AA Writing Centre (Claire Potter and Richard Adetokunbo Aina), Sam Aleksander, Xinyi (Frea) Lei, Peder Sveen and the AA Facilities team.

Photo: Elena Andreea Teleaga