The film discusses the experiences of refugees fleeing their home countries, but it also elucidates the struggle of victims of Hurricane Katrina. Together, the diverse artists involved in the exhibition engaged in a conversation that required participants “to come to terms with being, fearing, or accommodating the stranger,” as Morrison put it. They performed their work before the classic painting “The Raft of the Medusa,” demonstrating that both “traditional” and “nontraditional” forms belong as art. The slam poets’ presence was significant because they are usually viewed as foreigners in the traditional art world.
The film was borne out of Morrison’s 2006 exhibition at the Louvre, called “Etranger Chez Soi.” At her exhibition, Morrison brought together a variety of artists, ranging from choreographers to filmmakers to slam poets straight off the streets of Paris. The film uses art to explore the idea of the “foreigner,” asking questions such as, who is the foreigner? Who decides who the foreigner is? What is home? This was only one of the ideas examined in the documentary “The Foreigner’s Home,” which was screened in Rehm Library on Thursday, February 7. Art, American author Toni Morrison argues in the documentary, “The Foreigner’s Home,” is something that “human beings do, love, and cannot – I swear to you – cannot live without.” Art takes many forms, ranging from painting to dancing to writing, but it has been present in the life of every human who has ever lived.
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