Project #2-Boxes + Clouds

Boxes + Clouds was driven by two specific experiences. First, since my freshman year my friend Mary and I began collecting letters, pictures, and charts of our pasts experiences in what we call the "Box of Shmeh." The name arose form a debate our group of friends had over whether boxes or clouds is the best metaphor for where we keep emotions. What Mary and I decided was that some things live in clouds, future hopes that are more ephemeral, but difficult issues that we deal with stay compartmentalized in boxes. Some days it takes more tape to keep the box shut, and other days we let ourselves open the box and shuffle through it, but most days our boxes stay "out of sight, out of mind" unassumingly tucked away. As my artist statement explains, my box holds the jumbled mix of memories and emotions-nostalgic memories of everyday items and inside jokes in a faded sepia, and cold symbols of isolation and negativity in black and white. I don't really have any pictures of me and my dad, so I did my best to recreate iconic images from places I can access.

Second, I wanted to explore the pressure I often feel from the art world to produce work that deals with heavy subject matter. I think work that addresses difficult social issues is important, and has the power to catalyze change; however, as an idealist I also feel strongly that people usually need more hope than reminders of the broken structures that lead to pain. With this work, I tried to reconcile this tension and show that both the light and heavy experiences in my life are important to me.

Some of the Box Photos:

 

Some of my screenshots of collections of pins:
   

Artists Statement:
"Where do you keep your most difficult memories or your lofty day dreams? I think the painful parts of our past often live in boxes-contained, quietly kept away from our everyday mental space. When we look to the future, we keep our "head in the clouds"that are filled with intangible, imagined ideas and desires. My box holds the estrangement of a parent due to alcoholism, and my clouds hold my collection of pins that reflect light, playfulness, faith, beauty, and simple everyday comfort that I aspire to create on a broader scale. Both our past and our future aspirations form who we are, and this work aims to show that they each deserve respected space."