Νot belonging
Paris Petridis
The man who finds his homeland sweet is still a tender beginner;
he to whom every soil is as his native one is already strong;
but he is perfect to whom the entire world is as a foreign land.
Hugo of St. Victor (1096-1141)
Highway 40, Negev desert
Paradoxically, a home makes you more vulnerable. The more settled, contained and protected you are, the more exposed you will be to the irreducible uncertainties of life. In a way, security is a kind of death.
Heliopolis, Cairo
By contrast, voluntary homelessness —or, embracing the fact that all homes (geographical, political, religious) are provisional— will, if it does not destroy you, make originality of vision possible. For it will give you more than one perspective on life and awareness of the chimera of all identities.
Cornish, Alexandria
Downtown, Cairo
Garden City, Cairo
The constitutive lack that comes with the human existence is a sine qua non for homelessness. Not belonging to your native place or dogma does not entail their loss but rather that loss is inherent in the very existence of either. The desire to create is nothing other than the sublimation of this lost fullness, compensation for an irreparable lack.
Garden City, Cairo
Of course, you can be at home and feel homeless and vice versa.