Landscapes of Home and Maps of the Heart: Using Art to Understand the Meaning of Home for First and Second Generation Immigrants in Worcester Massachusetts

Author

• Sophie Sundaram, College of the Holy CrossFollow

Date of Creation

Spring 5-12-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Visual Arts

Department

Anthropology

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Leslie Schomp

Abstract

Landscapes of Home and Maps of the Heart: Using Art to Understand the Meaning of Home for First and Second Generation Immigrants in Worcester Massachusetts explores how individuals with histories of migration understand and experience “home,” and how those understandings can be translated into visual form through portraiture. Developed through conversations with Worcester community members, the project combines studio practice with methodological approaches drawn from sociological and anthropological fieldwork, including participant interviews, relational research practices, and community-based engagement.

Grounded in Worcester, a city shaped by multiple waves of migration and cultural diversity, the project investigates how senses of home are formed when they are distributed across places, memories, cultures, and histories rather than rooted in a single location. The methodology evolved flexibly in response to participants’ lives, with conversations taking place in person, over Zoom, and through written exchange.

The resulting portraits are constructed through collage, layering photographs, symbolic imagery, and elements drawn from participants’ narratives. Rather than functioning as singular representations, the works hold together multiple temporalities, landscapes, and emotional associations simultaneously. Across the project, recurring themes emerge surrounding family, food, memory, and landscape, revealing home as something carried through relationships, routine, and remembrance.

The completed works were publicly exhibited at the Jean McDonough Arts Center from April 1–12, 2026. Ultimately, Landscapes of Home and Maps of the Heart explores the emotional geographies of migration, proposing home as an evolving emotional landscape continually constructed through memory, connection, and lived experience.

Comments

Readers: Professors Inaash Islam and David Karmon

Recommended Citation

Sundaram, Sophie, "Landscapes of Home and Maps of the Heart: Using Art to Understand the Meaning of Home for First and Second Generation Immigrants in Worcester Massachusetts" (2026). Fenwick Scholar Program. 27.
https://crossworks.holycross.edu/fenwick_scholar/27