This paper examines the meanings and imaginings of the home as a site of identity and belonging, focusing on that space in the geographical, historical, and political contexts of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The notion of home is used to discuss some interactions between public, political, and national identities, and private and personal identities on the island, with the help of two artworks, Gift, by Sarah Browne, and Gauge, by Philip Napier. These pieces illuminate specific issues pertaining to public and private identities and public and private spaces in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland; here, they are read as a means of comparing certain uses and meanings of identity in the statelet and its neighboring state.
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