INSTALLATION DESIGN
HANDLE WITH CARE
Have you ever stopped to consider that every other person on the planet is living a life just as vivid and complex as your own? Or that each random passerby has a world full of challenges, emotions, and dreams? This realization has been named “sonder" in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig. His goal was to name emotions that we all feel but don’t have the words to express. I personally find the idea of sonder to be extremely compelling because it is all about recognizing our collective experience. We cross paths with hundreds of lives every day, if only for a brief moment: a person in a car rushing past, a lit window in an apartment building, or someone we would consider a background character shopping at the grocery store.
During the height of the pandemic (and the peak popularity of LED lighting) a photo went viral of the NYU student dorms at night with colorful windows. You could tell that every student in their dorms had spent the time to order and install a LED strip and then choose a color that fit their mood the best. This was an amazing example of sonder to me because it provided an insight into multiple lives at once.
We’re all here together and every one of us has our own struggles. I encourage viewers of my show to reflect on their own life, challenges, and hopes for the future. Then I ask that they grab a card, share their story, and then look outward to see the depth of life around them. I believe that recognizing others in this way is the crucial first step in becoming more empathetic towards them. Be patient and kind; you never know what someone is going through.
I wanted the content of the cards to give a sneak peak into people’s lives in a way that people could sympathize with and make connections. I created a survey that ended with over 60 respondents. The questions I asked were:
1) What is the hardest thing you are going through right now/have gone through?
2) What is one specific hope you have for this year/the future?
The public reception of my project was incredibly positive and heartfelt. I lot of people participated at the show and added their own cards to the wall. The cards, in particular, were the subject of a lot of great comments.
“I'm standing here crying reading all of these. Such a powerful project. Thank you so much for making it.”
“It’s really the combination of the building and the perspectives from the car that made this so profound.”
“You kind of forget you’re not the main character sometimes. This was cool.”
