Podcast Episode 4L Sandolore Sykes' Voyage of Love, Art, and Bureaucracy

Sandolore's discovery from Wisconsin to Rhode Island to Magnetic Island to France

Podcast Episode 4L Sandolore Sykes' Voyage of Love, Art, and Bureaucracy
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Podcast Episode 4L Sandolore Sykes' Voyage of Love, Art, and Bureaucracy
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Sandolore Sykes

This is the 4th episode of the Finding Home Elsewhere Podcast: each episode unpacks the emotional, cultural, and bureaucratic challenges of relocation—whether for love, adventure, or a fresh start—and what it truly means to find home in a new place.In this episode, I talk with Sandolore Sykes, an artist and writer who’s gone from from Milwaukee (to Rhode Island) to Australia and ultimately to France. We discuss her creative evolution, the challenges of navigating French bureaucracy, and how she’s discovered her home in France through art and community.

images by Sandolore Sykes

In this conversation, Sandolore & I talk about what it’s like to feel out of place in a new country - struggling with language, culture, and all the little everyday differences.

Make sure to check out her stack: In the Inversion Field. It’s a wonderful place to spend time.

In the Inversion FieldSuspended just high enough to let the earth do the moving for me.By Sandolore Sykes

Home again or…

Our conversation kept circling back to the idea of “home.” After years abroad, Sandolore sees it as fluid. “When we go back to the U.S. in the summer, I say we’re going home,” she told me. “But my kids don’t get it. To them, home is where you live.” We also talked about the issues of adjusting to a new country and the deeper challenge of finding connection - and how her children have helped with that.

images by Sandolore Sykes

“If you move to a new place, get involved in a project,” she advised. “Work on something together. That’s where it all happens.”

If you’ve ever dreamed of starting over somewhere new, this episode is for you. And if you’re already doing it, Sandolore’s story is a reminder that while it’s not always easy, it can be deeply rewarding. So take her advice—find a project, work with others, and let the rest follow.

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Explore some of Sandolore’s artwork below

We barely got to talk about it, but her artwork could be worth a whole other interview altogether.

Check out Caniveau--Gutter by Sandolore

The sometimes surreal beauty of the gutter. Strobe lights of garbage trucks and the things we may forget to notice on the night curbs.

And F=MA, one of her installations.

F=MA
This video is about wind—about visualizing something invisible, something we only notice through its impact on the world around it. Originally shown in a gallery at half speed, it's not really meant to be watched in the usual sense, but rather to blend into the space as part of an installation.

More coming soon!

If you’ve enjoyed this, subscribe and share with others. We’ll be releasing these interviews on other platforms, along with some playlists to accompany the blog (the stack?) and more interviews!

Keith


Meanwhile, check out other interviews in this series!

Finding Home Elsewhere: The Podcast Debut
Discover the latest addition to Finding Home Elsewhere—a podcast dedicated to sharing the stories of those who’ve made the leap to live in new places around the world. Each episode explores the personal journeys of individuals who’ve relocated, discussing how they navigated change, found community, and redefined what “home” means to them. Whether you’re…
Finding Home Elsewhere Episode 2: Johnny Diaz's Journey Across Borders
It’s the second episode of the Finding Home Elsewhere podcast, where we explore experiences of people building new lives in new places. In this episode, Jonatan Díaz Trivín, a Spanish teacher and artist, shares his journey from Spain to France, where he worked at Futuroscope amusement park and taught in Angers, before eventually settling in New York Ci…
Podcast Episode 3: Will Scheckel's Pivot Home
It’s the third episode of the Finding Home Elsewhere podcast! I am so happy people have been enjoying these so far and I feel so privileged to have had the chance to speak with every one of my guests. It’s been a lot of fun and I am learning so much. Thank you all.