Slán Abhaile/Safe Home

Pronounced slawn a-ball-ya in Irish, Slán Abhaile/Safe Home is a community-focused, memory-driven bench in Boston's Dorchester, focused on the ongoing housing crisis impact on working-class residents. 

Inspired by benches, the artwork is a repository where Dorchester neighbors can share collective memories of home through photography and oral storytelling. 

The piece includes a seating area or bench attached to six shelves. These shelves adorn the sides of the bench and display photographic interpretations of home from willing community members, whether that is a favorite hangout spot in the neighborhood or perhaps someone's front porch. Visitors can also listen to the oral narratives of Dorchester residents facing housing and economic inequality. In a time where home is precarious and sometimes temporary, Slán Abhaile/Safe Home aims to heal generational and socio-economic divides in a city where over 45 percent of renters are cost-burdened. This project highlights these stories while encouraging new questions about how successful Boston will be if the working class cannot afford to live where they work. 

Slán Abhaile / Safe Home is inspired by Krystle Brown’s late mother, Kathleen Bowen Brown, who grew up in and around Fields Corner, Dorchester, in the 1950s-70s. She faced a childhood of housing insecurity and economic hardship. Other inspirations for this project are Candy Chang’s Before I Die, Project Row Houses in Houston Texas, and Suzanne Lacy’s Skin of Memory. 

Participation from the Dorchester community is ongoing.

Location: Reverend Allen Park, Dorchester, 1-19 Church St, Boston, MA

Timeline:  Opened September 22, 2023 and is still on view

Get Involved: Connect with Krystle Brown