Homesick: Camilla Mancilla

  • Date

    Tuesday, October 01 2024-Friday, January 10 2025

  • Time

    Multi-day event.

Movement and migration have been intrinsic to the human experience for millennia, tracing back to our nomadic roots. The advent of sedentism sparked the necessity for architecture, as temporary dwellings evolved into permanent structures. We often use the term homesick to describe an emotional ache, a profound longing for a past that no longer exists. 

This exhibition challenges the traditional view of the home as a space linked to health and well-being, proposing instead that our homes also reflect our illnesses and mortality. Homesickness can be seen both as a medical condition and as a commentary on the "sick home," critiquing dense architecture that often disregards the cultural values inherent to dwelling. This exhibition serves as a theoretical and practical reflection, intertwining human behavior theories with architectural science. Each piece seeks to evoke emotions such as the repetition of memories, mania, and hysteria associated with longing and the pain of return, as described in the concept of nostalgia. At the same time, it critiques the notion of domestic architecture as inherently healthy, revealing instead how it can repress and homogenize us into a singular way of living. It invites us to view homes as places for illness rather than merely spaces for healing.


This exhibition is organized by the District Architecture Center for the Sigal Gallery. The exhibition is made possible with generous support from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Additional support provided by AIA|DC Sustaining Firm Affiliate Members. 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Mary Fitch, AICP, Hon. AIA, District Architecture Center 
EXHIBITION CURATOR: Camilla Mancilla, Ph.D.(c) Architecture + Design, Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center, Virginia Tech.
EXHIBITION AND PROGRAMS COORDINATOR: Molly Ford, District Architecture Center
PRINTING: BluEdge
INSTALLATION: Cross Museum Services