ARTIST STATEMENT
“We are all the same.” It’s a phrase I have heard throughout my life, and depending on the context, it can be just as easy to believe it or cause you to shake your head and list off the reasons why not. Living in a city community as an adult which is fairly opposite of what surrounded me growing up, I began to draw on the differences of opportunity. From a child’s upbringing, to the everyday needs as an adult, financial needs, entertainment options, access to art and of course, the people. People, who look different than you, act differently, speak in a different tongue, wear different clothes, and who you know in your heart of hearts, just couldn’t understand where you’re coming from should you find yourself in a conversation. How many times a day or during a month do you find yourself thinking thoughts of how different you are? Ten times? Seventy times?
Well, you’re not. At least not as much as you thought, you hoped or you wanted to be. The exterior, which includes what people enjoy as part of their unique personality, is small in comparison to what links us together as a species. Aside from the technical aspects, cells, organs, being bipeds, etc, we all are dealing with, striving for and contemplating similar things. We do things based on the thought that it will get us closer to that better day, better month or perfect moment we’ve been dreaming of. We all worry about our loved ones or those around us we simply know from daily interaction. We all think about money and what it will get us whether for survival or desire. We all have illness, death, celebration, feelings that we’re trapped by forces beyond our control, physical wants, emotional highs and lows, days of not knowing what we’re doing or how we’ll get out of this mess, moments of weakness, that moment of smelling the fresh air, feeling the sun on your face and smiling, that sudden feeling of invigoration and love that fills your body and soul, setting you free to accomplish anything and that your place in the world is unique and powerful and somehow nothing; all in the same split second.
It’s a fact, you’re unique, you’re different from all the rest; no need to prove that on a minute by minute basis and down to every detail. Find the similarities in others. Walk into the next situation knowing you and the person next to you are more similar than you automatically think and try to find it comforting, even if only for a second.
“We are all the same.” It’s a phrase I have heard throughout my life, and depending on the context, it can be just as easy to believe it or cause you to shake your head and list off the reasons why not. Living in a city community as an adult which is fairly opposite of what surrounded me growing up, I began to draw on the differences of opportunity. From a child’s upbringing, to the everyday needs as an adult, financial needs, entertainment options, access to art and of course, the people. People, who look different than you, act differently, speak in a different tongue, wear different clothes, and who you know in your heart of hearts, just couldn’t understand where you’re coming from should you find yourself in a conversation. How many times a day or during a month do you find yourself thinking thoughts of how different you are? Ten times? Seventy times?
Well, you’re not. At least not as much as you thought, you hoped or you wanted to be. The exterior, which includes what people enjoy as part of their unique personality, is small in comparison to what links us together as a species. Aside from the technical aspects, cells, organs, being bipeds, etc, we all are dealing with, striving for and contemplating similar things. We do things based on the thought that it will get us closer to that better day, better month or perfect moment we’ve been dreaming of. We all worry about our loved ones or those around us we simply know from daily interaction. We all think about money and what it will get us whether for survival or desire. We all have illness, death, celebration, feelings that we’re trapped by forces beyond our control, physical wants, emotional highs and lows, days of not knowing what we’re doing or how we’ll get out of this mess, moments of weakness, that moment of smelling the fresh air, feeling the sun on your face and smiling, that sudden feeling of invigoration and love that fills your body and soul, setting you free to accomplish anything and that your place in the world is unique and powerful and somehow nothing; all in the same split second.
It’s a fact, you’re unique, you’re different from all the rest; no need to prove that on a minute by minute basis and down to every detail. Find the similarities in others. Walk into the next situation knowing you and the person next to you are more similar than you automatically think and try to find it comforting, even if only for a second.
"PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE"
CORE Gallery
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
SEPTEMBER 2014
CORE Gallery
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
SEPTEMBER 2014