Slán Abhaile / Safe Home
This project has been supported and generously funded by Now + There through the Public Art Accelerator Program, Cohort Five.
Finished bench, thanks to BRM Production Management, 4 Nichols Design, Now + There, and the people of Dorchester
What is
Slán Abhaile?
My mother, Kathleen Bowen Brown, grew up in Dorchester in the 1950s-70s. She faced a childhood of housing insecurity and economic hardship. Her struggle is alive and well in 2023. It is cyclical.
Dorchester is home to people from all over the world; Vietnamese, Cape Verdean, Latine, Black, and Irish populations. Many have lived here their whole lives while others have found Fields Corner as their new home recently.
Slán Abhaile is the words my recent ancestors from Ireland may have said to one another when wishing a loved one goodbye. The Hiberno-English translation means "safe home". It is a bid to wish someone safely home.
The Irish (Gaelige) language is listed under the UNESCO Endangered Languages list. I wish to share my ancestral language to speak of home through time and generations, as a means to preserve communities and imagine better futures.
A safe home is not just the land or physical structure but is created through collective memory, community care, and opportunities for genuine connection.
This picture to the right is one of the many homes my mother and grandparents lived in throughout Dorchester and Mattapan. This one is in Clam Point, Dorchester close to Fields Corner.
The Design
Six protected shelves on the sides of the bench display community members' photographic interpretations of home. From here you can scan the corresponding QR code to listen or read to their personal stories of living in Dorchester and what home means to them.
The colors and architectural elements are based on neighborhood features. The back of the bench incorporates shingles and various clapboarding that are a direct nod to the triple deckers found throughout Dorchester. Even the shape of the bench mimics the bay windows found in some triple decker apartment buildings.
The colors are inspired by more brighter elements found in the Fields Corner neighborhood such as the Chua Luc Hoa Boston Buddhist Culture Center for the bright yellow-orange and the Black Lives Matter Movement (no longer on view) in Fields Corner for the bright pink.
In a time where home is precarious and sometimes temporary, my work aims to heal generational and socio-economic divides starting in the neighborhood that my mother and grandparents called home.
Details:
Location: Allen Park, 1-9 Church Street, Dorchester, MA 02122
Dates: September 2023–September 2024
Celebrations: TBD
Transportation: parking along the streets by the park. Fields Corner Red line Station is about 1/2 mile walk
Nearest public restroom: Fire Station on Parish St