Goodbye Box

Ever have one of those weeks when you’re so frustrated that you just want to jump off a bridge? This past week I sure did. “The Embodiment of Frustration” is a piece that encompasses my struggle with negative feelings and emotions.

Overall, creating this piece was immensely therapeutic. The process began as I was leaving Doherty late Wednesday night. Upon exiting the building, I was greeted by cold autumn rain. I had no umbrella, hood, or plastic to cover my project. I was so beaten down by this point that I decided to accept the situation for what it was and trudge through the rain.

When I got back to my dorm, drenched from head to toe, I knew that I needed to find a creative outlet in order to feel better. I decided to express my frustrations in a physical way by writing horrible, disgusting thoughts onto lotus leaves made from cardboard and Masonite. I utilized the materials stylistically by writing my less-significant problems on cardboard leaves and more impactful issues on Masonite. After expressing over 75 negative thoughts, I broke each leaf in half and put them in the box. This box now embodied my negativity and emotions, but wouldn’t contain them completely because of the holes cut into the sides.

After creating this landscape, I created a series of photographs depicting environments I associate with the negative energies now represented by this box. The use of this object in each space allowed me to view my negativity from a different perspective. In an act of liberation, I ended the series by throwing my problems off a bridge. This brought about a feeling of liberation and closure.