Neighborhood

Date2001

MediumInk on paper

Dimensions27 1/2 × 53 in. (69.9 × 134.6 cm) Image Size: 17 × 41 in. (43.2 × 104.1 cm)

ClassificationsDrawing

Credit LineGift of Stephen Foust, 2016

Object numberUAC6498

DescriptionThere are some things in this life that everyone shares. One of them is that everyone is from somewhere. Whether you have moved around 1,000 times or have lived in the same place your entire life, our location and our past homes hold a very specific meaning to our existence. If you've ever returned to the place where you grew up, a landmark from your childhood, or to a neighborhood where you used to live after a significant amount of time has passed, you understand what it feels like when that feeling of belonging that was once tied to a place transforms into a feeling of nostalgia. On the other hand, if you've ever traveled to a new place and found a strange amount of comfort, as if you were meant to be there, you understand what it feels like to find that feeling of belonging once again.

These feelings and experiences are relevant to Nancy Bonior's work Neighborhood. Executed in ink, Bonior uses organic, painterly lines to communicate structure. There is an emotional element to her piece because it isn't a perfectly rendered or drafted map; it's much more intimate, and vulnerable than that. By witnessing the imperfections of the human hand within the work, as a viewer you are taken back to your own experiences. As you understand Bonior's hand and its presence in the work, you feel connected to her. Beyond that, her work touches on the human experience by reminding us of our own neighborhoods, the places we grew up, and the places where we feel like we belong. As you study her line work, the way that they cross over each other, how the different colors interact, you might be reminded of the interconnectedness of our world, and the intricacies within our own personal landscapes.

Born in Detroit, Bonior studied Education in her undergraduate work at Wayne State University before going on to receive her Master in Fine Arts at the same institution. Bonior has created ink wash map paintings of Detroit, St. George, the Midwest, Au Sable Forks, Salt Mountain l and ll, North Shore, and New Jersey.

Text by Emily Lane Borden

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