Make Yourself At Home investigates the concept of “home” and how the act of “coming home” manifests within the body and camera. In this new body of work, Chipewyan (Dënesųłıné) multi-disciplinary artist from Treaty 8 Territory and member of the Deninu K’ue First Nation Jake Kimble examines the multiple and complex meanings of home.

What does it mean to come home?

“… home was taken from me without permission (as if I’d let them if they asked).”

In Make Yourself At Home, Kimble processes a familial loss and the 2023 decimation by forest fire of one of his home communities in the Northwest Territories, through a body of work that honours and archives grief, and the personal need to repair and rebuild. In it, he examines the definition of “home” and the gravitational pull of home when needing to heal and reconnect with the land, whether physically, spiritually, emotionally, or mentally. Delving deeper, enquiry is made into the concept of home as it pertains to buildings that no longer remain, and to people who are no longer present.

Distinctive of his practice, Make Yourself At Home centers Kimble as the protagonist in his own work. It is a documentation of personal ceremony, an ongoing ritual taking place between artist and landscape. This is a documentation of spontaneous moments of learning during a period of deep grief and healing. Simultaneously, the act of picking up the camera to archive this experience is central and intrinsic to Kimble’s healing process. He captures the vast terrain of the Northwest Territories through a familial and loving lens, in some instances even physically embracing the earth that lies beneath the snow.

Make Yourself At Home questions the sense of self constructed through the concept of home, whether defined by place, family, lineage, or culture. By unraveling his multifaceted relationship with home, Kimble is in parallel also exploring displacement, to examine the paradoxical nature of returning to a place that was stolen, in order to receive a gift of healing.

Speaking on the subject, the artist states: “I am interested in the idiom that goes: ‘make yourself at home,’ or the idea of ‘making oneself at home’—the reconstruction of the self. This past summer has been particularly devastating, as so much of my home was taken from me without permission (as if I’d let them if they asked). With the loss of my brother as well as the complete decimation of one of my home communities, I’m finding myself in need of not only repairing but rebuilding.”

Using the “funny bone” as a tool, Kimble invites the audience to examine the absurdities that exist within the everyday, including the challenging of time, in order to exhale, unclench, and even chuckle in spaces where laughter is often lost. Although sharing deeply personal and painful moments, Kimble’s humour within his visual storytelling acts as a vessel that permits and encourages authenticity, forging connections and acting as a mirror between photographer/subject and viewer.

Presented by United Contemporary