Home is where the art is: Teens explore ideas of home at the MFA

For Annielly Camargo, a recent high school graduate from Allston, home is an uncomfortable place riddled with her aunt’s smoking addiction.

“I lived in the projects where there were too many people and living under circumstances that probably shouldn’t have been allowed,” she says. “This piece is to show the routine that somebody can have and how it sticks to their whole lives, but also the effects it has on other people.”

Camargo is one of the teen artists featured in the Museum of Fine Arts’ exhibit HOMiE: In Our Eyes. She, along with the 43 other Boston Public School students, were prompted to illustrate an answer to the question: What is home?

To celebrate their 10th anniversary, the Museum of Fine Arts’ Teen Arts Council will showcase artwork from Boston high school students through the HOMiE exhibit, on display through the start of next year. The leadership development program’s manager Shilo Kuriakose, says the museum chose the theme “home” for their first teen art exhibit because “[the group] wanted something that would allow teens to talk about other sub topics like identity [and] culture… things that contribute to home.”

Although still considered youths, each artist has a developed sense of “home” shaped by poignant experiences. Just as there is a variety of art forms being used — from acrylic, to color pencil, to digital media — the Boston students illustrate a variety of narratives that evoke sub topics like love, family, death, and war.

“We all have different background, and each different background has something unique and special about it,” featured artist Abigail Alexis explains. “For us to come to one room and express these different backgrounds is awesome.”

The exhibit was curated by the Teen Arts Council, which consisted of 12 members, and was mentored by MFA staff as well as professionals from the surrounding community such as Nadeem Mazen, Cambridge City Councilor and founder of danger!awesome and Nimblebot and Jay Calderin, founder of Boston Fashion Week.

This is the first exhibition of juried artwork by teens at the MFA. Teen Arts Council member Candace Waldron believes that including the TAC in the creation of the exhibit, from the curating process to the name of the exhibit, will help the exhibit — and the museum itself — appeal better to teens. With topics ranging from family to immigration, sports, and playstation, the exhibit reflects what Waldron wanted to be a diverse and interesting exhibition for her peers.

“Now when people come and look at this exhibition, they can see what teens consider to be art and what we consider to be cool,” she adds. “Teens will definitely come more because of this and come to see what the museum has to offer.”

If you go:
July 16 to Jan. 22
Museum of Fine Arts
465 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Free with museum admission, mfa.org