We Belong Here

In this work, Bahamian-born artist Tavares Strachan offers a seemingly concrete and affirmative declaration that, upon closer reflection, is abstract and fluid. As Stratchan recently stated: “As humans, we all struggle with how we fit in and belong….Who gets to determine who belongs where? And where is here? And why does it matter?” Any change to the location or context of this work changes who “we” might be and where “here” is, bringing new nuances to the phrase. “I have always been fascinated by invisibility,” he explains. Taking forgotten and excluded people and histories as his principal subjects, his art often uses light to make them visible. The welcoming tone struck by this phrase insinuates that perhaps many of us haven’t always felt included. “I wanted to make a work that everyone can own—one that everyone can have….Because as soon as you read it, you say, ‘We belong here,’ and we do belong.”