Mayra Sérgio

Sensorial Shelter

2016.

This installation/performance started as an investigation into what brings a sense of belonging to people. Being a foreigner myself, I started questioning how the spaces and objects around me interfere in that feeling.

Food carries a highly evocative power that enables one to feel ‘at home’ through the physical ritual of preparing it, its look, smell and taste. Food has the power to overcome an estranged space and transform it into a place of belonging. A mug of coffee can be stronger in making one at home than any built architecture.

During the days of the exhibition, I perform making bricks out of coffee and building up this sensorial shelter. Each day the installation will gain a different shape and this fragile and impregnating shelter will either grow or collapse.