The Home Made Visible project identifies traditional artists in Durham County and highlights their work as symbols of community identity. As part of the project more than a dozen folklorists and photographers traveled the county in 2001, meeting and documenting people from diverse places and backgrounds who are creating traditional art and other handcrafted objects. These pieces hold powerful messages about their makers and the communities from which they spring.

Through these prized possessions, the artists invoke memories of home, identifying themselves to others and reinforcing their cultural values and ethics. Culturally expressive art forms, celebrations, and ceremonies also can reflect the often-tenuous balance between the demands of assimilation in a new or changing environment and the comfort and strength of an old identity. Presenting these traditions and keepsakes through exhibitions and public programs offers an invitation to dialogue. Local residents can learn about each other by sharing their traditions, their food, their cherished objects, their ceremonies and rituals, their homes. In conversation and collaboration, they can expand their understanding of Durham's rich and diverse communities and become part of a larger conversation about Durham's future.

Home Made Visible: Durham 2002, an exhibition of traditional art and craft from communities forming and transforming Durham, is on display at the Durham Arts Council, 120 Morris Street, in the Allenton Gallery February 21-March 18 and in the Durham Art Guild Gallery February 21-March 31, 2002. An opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, February 28, from 5 to 7 p.m.

This Home Made Visible project has received support from the City of Durham, the Durham Arts Council, the Durham Art Guild, and the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts.