Etched into our memories are familiar sounds, sights, smells, and feelings that we forever associate with home. Whether we live in the same place for a lifetime or choose a more nomadic existence, we are constantly forming and transforming our homes. The keepsakes that adorn our households, those prized objects we create or inherit, reflect the places, religions, families, and ethnic traditions that shape who we are. These cherished objects are often reserved for those closest to us, to be displayed and used at home or in community celebrations, and are rarely shared with the general public. This exhibition and accompanying publication make visible some of these creative cultural expressions, crafted by members of diverse communities as they make Durham their home.

Since 1960 Durham County's population has more than doubled, and the local community has become progressively more ethnically diverse. From 1990 to 2000, for example, the Latino and Asian communities doubled in size. Recent census data show that people from across the United States and around the globe now call Durham home.

Documenting traditional artists and arts in Durham provides many insights into both the history and the future of this community, while at the same time capturing the present nature of the place in compelling ways. Durham and North Carolina, along with the rest of the Sunbelt South, experienced rapid growth and tremendous economic change in the decades after World War II. The demise of tobacco as Durham's defining agricultural and manufacturing industry also has had a dramatic effect on the local landscape. In its place we have witnessed an explosion in the health care, technology, and service industries. In recognition of this transition, local organizations and individuals have saved, rehabilitated, and reconceptualized old buildings and old identities—Brightleaf Square, the Hayti Heritage Center, the Bull City, and the Durham Bulls baseball team, to name a few. Now we turn attention to the community's cultural past and the traditions, old and new, that are transforming our sense of Durham as home. Newcomers to Durham are bringing new their ideas about food, family, religion, education, opportunity, and art. They are reshaping older urban neighborhoods and suburban subdivisions, opening businesses, and diversifying religious institutions and schools. Long-time residents are experiencing the effects of shifting rural boundaries, encountering the arrival of a myriad of ethnic cuisines, and struggling with the glut of rush hour on familiar highways. Tied to these changes is the need to introduce and re-present ourselves, to express our opinions about the politics, economics, and cultures of our communities.

Documenting and learning about traditional art and craft can be an enlightening avenue on this journey of discovery. Traditionally crafted objects, like those presented in Home Made Visible, convey powerful messages about their makers and the cultures from which they spring. Once crafted mainly for their utility, these objects now take on different meanings as changes in technology have produced newer, less expensive replacements and removed them from the realm of daily necessity. Viewing them we may discover the often hidden, intrinsic value in the creation and use of these treasured keepsakes. Through these prized possessions, the artists invoke memories of home, identifying themselves to others and reinforcing their cultural values and ethics.

Culturally expressive artforms, celebrations, and ceremonies also can reflect the often tenuous balance between the demands of assimilation in a new environment and the comfort and strength of an old identity. Presenting these traditions and keepsakes through exhibitions and public programs offers us a great opportunity, an invitation to conversation and dialogue. We can learn about each other by sharing our traditions, our food, our cherished objects, our ceremonies and rituals, our homes. In conversation and collaboration, we can locate our common ground and grapple with our divisions, and together shepherd our Durham home into the future. This project is an introduction to this challenge and an invitation to all Durham residents to meet each other anew.

Through photographs and short biographical essays, this booklet introduces the artists whose work is presented in the Home Made Visible exhibition. Thank you to the artists: Little River Senior Center Quilters, Braima Moiwai, Galia Goodman, Steve Henry Herman, La Virgen de Guadalupe Feast Day Dancers, Zakiah Moukanna, Clellie White, and Ken Maynor, whose hospitality and generosity have made this project possible. Many more traditional artists were documented than could be included in the exhibit. We hope this will be the first of many projects designed to document and present Durhamıs rich cultural legacy.

- Barbara Lau

Community Documentary Programs Director and
Home Made Visible Project Director

Center for Documentary Studies