Familiarity, the equally evasive and pleasurable feeling of knowing the architecture of a memory, keeps knocking at the doors of our conscience as long as we live. We long to return to a place we think we know well, to experience a miracle or erase the wounds of a nightmare. Again and infinitely again.

But how often does retracing our old steps lead us to the same place? At the crossover of our imagined realities and destined experiences, stepping through the veil of time, we discover that so much has changed. A feeling one cannot replicate, a dream long fulfilled, a promise never taken back, the first win never as glorious again. In the guise of repetition, new routes emerge.

This week's STIRfri unpacks people, pieces and practices that probe familiar landscapes for fresh meanings. Indian artist Sosa Joseph returns to figments from her girlhood in her ongoing solo show, while Durga Venkatesan's 'Touchy Topic' calls forth moments when one was inappropriately touched. A conversation with Sámi architect Joar Nango reveals a practice rooted in his Indigenous values while a luminous world unfolds in 'A Call to Return,' the book documenting the life of the late architect Didi Contractor.

Can this return to familiarity point us to pathways for now and the future?