"As a response to Venla Mustonen's work "Getting to Know You" I was intrigued by the proposed issue of solipsism, how do we get to know someone/somewhere/ourselves? In my recent work I have explored creative writing and anthropomorphism as tools to test our ability for empathy. How far can we extend our understanding of the life of another body, wether it is a fellow human, or an inanimate body. For my response submission I have written a short text from the perspective of a house, a home. How do we as its inhabitants looks like in the eyes of a building? Accompanying the text I've chosen a selection of three embroidery pieces, where I've tried to capture the feeling of spaces I've inhabited, in my mind or with my body."

​

Fann Xu is a Chinese/Swedish artist, designer and performer. In her work she explores the emotional relationship we form with objects and spaces. Her work has been exhibited in the US and Europe. Xu holds a BA from Bennington College, and a MFA Konstfack University of Arts, Craft and Design. She is currently pursuing a Mres degree at Royal College of Art and explores how we can use writing as a tool to convey the sensorial and visceral relationship to the spaces we inhabit.

​

Instagram: @fannenx

​

​

Home.

How do you build it? 

Where do you find it? How do you grow it? What parts does it consist of? 

What makes something trustworthy and what makes something not?  What makes somewhere worthy of your time?

Is it in the walls? Hidden underneath  the floor boards, tucked up  in the spaces where the window meets its frame.

 

What makes a place a home? How does it feel, smell, touch like? How does it live? The traces in the spaces where life is lived. Can you hold it in your hands?

 

People have kept trying to change me, make me stronger, bigger, more attuned to the current trends, more worthy of housing future hopes and dreams. 

Yet the only ones that seem exchangeable seem to be the people themselves. 

 

Getting to know you through me. 

​