We Call It Home

Some journals track days and years.  

Some record the course of a journey.

Some journals recall a place or a moment in time.

This journal records a stroll around my old neighborhood in Berkeley, California in 1986. 

“We Call it Home" has covers of heavy wood making it a satisfying object to hold. The hinges open smoothly. Inside is a recess that holds a folded accordion book with with a black and white photo on each page. The first page has an inscription:

"We Call It Home 

our block and its environs

for Allison 

July 1986

Berkeley, California 

From David"

  

The date tells me it was a birthday gift from David, my college buddy, housemate, partner in crime and ever the artist. He never gave a gift that he didn’t make. Always, his presents were surprising, witty and ingenious and intensely personal.

Holding this hefty little book conjures vivid memories of where I used to live. I recall where it used to sit at my desk in the old farm house we shared.  I remember the garden set back from the noisy city street in the midst of crazy Berkeley. I think of the light, the feeling of sanctuary that surrounded the house.  This little wooden journal brings all these things to mind. 

If I walked around the neighborhood today I would see some of the same things. But many of those things I would be gone, ephemeral local details that come and go with the passage of time.  Still I know I can always open this blocky little book and it will speak volumes to me about a very particular time and place that we called home. 

Artist Book: David Jouris, 1986

To see more photographs by David Jouris:   http://www.davidjouris.com/