How We Are Now

The Story

“How We Are Now” aims to explore the themes of self-growth, personal values, and internal fulfillment. As you walk through the installation, you can see and hear snippets of interviews with individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds.

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The thing that is most important to me when I am looking for inspiration for work is if I find the subject captivating. I have always been drawn to my own history, collecting antiques, old photographs, and postcards.

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When thinking about the subject matter for such a unique and flexible art form, I wanted the focus to be on people. I wanted to share people’s stories, find common ground, and create a sort of cumulative archive about subjects I myself was struggling with. As a college student preparing for my senior year and the world beyond, I began to become incredibly stressed by the idea of success and whether I was “successful” enough to pursue a career in the arts. This installation aims to explore the relationship people hold at various life stages with their own success and happiness, and how these things are tied together in our lives.

The questions below were asked to each subject. They have prompted anecdotes, self-reflection, criticism, and nostalgia. I wanted to investigate what people value, and how their values are tied to their sense of accomplishment, as well as how that compares to a sense of contentment and personal fulfillment.