Time Is The Issue
Time has always been my obsession. The lack of it. The overwhelming abundance of it. When I was young there was too much time and I didn’t know what to do with it. That was frightening. Hours and hours of time and no ideas on how to enjoy them. Then abundance turned into a constant lack and deprivation. I can’t spend too much time on this, I’ll be late for that. I need it fast. I don’t want to waste time. ASAP! No time to think. No time to stop and see where I’m going.
So the time started to stop itself making me travel with it with the speed of light. My obsession went full circle. I learned to bend time. But only occasionally. When I finally get inside of a moment and stay there. Stay in the moment. Not chasing it. Just being there. The project started with me wanting to show ways of wasting time. Then turned into self-reflection on my own relationship with it.
Title: Gossip
Story & Message: How much time goes by talking the small talk - saying words that are not meant. Gossip may make us feel better in the short term, but it doesn’t do us much good in the long term. All the competing and bitterness catches up with us in the end. The time that is wasted on gossip could be spent building meaningful relationships, which are based on empathy. The chitter-chatter whispered in our ears is just noise. What we really want is wholesome conversations with people we can trust.
Title: Social
Story & Message: Connection with people is what we are seeking. It’s soothing to know that someone far away likes us, and cares about us. But there is a point when the phone starts dictating our behaviors. Human connections give us the greatest thrills, so it is understandable that we want more contact with people. But a picture of our lunch will not bring us the fulfillment that we are seeking. The time we spend looking at the world through our phones blinds us to all the beautiful human beings that are sitting right in front of our eyes.
Title: Don't Know What To Wear
Story & Message: Piles of clothes that we’ve never used - as we open up the wardrobe they pour onto us. ‘What should I wear?’ - we ask, as a variety of fabric stares back at us. We’re afraid that unless we look perfect, people will think less of us. Minutes, maybe hours pass by until we finally make our choice. With a bit of courage we could be done in seconds, and still be ourselves. Adding up the hours we spend on picking outfits, we would get a few vacation days. All that fabric soaking up our precious time. Are your clothes wearing you out?
Title: Let's Play
Story & Message: To play - it comes so naturally to the human. It’s when we are playful that we feel most in our element. We may sometimes want to quench our thirst for fun by escaping into a ‘Second Life’. This often happens when we are not satisfied with our first life. Hours pass by, while we are submerged in a virtual reality. We are blinded by the dazzling light of the screen, and valuable time keeps escaping us. All that lost time, we could have lived in our first and true life.
Title: Shopping
Story & Message: We go on a website with an honest intention: to buy a jacket. The next day, an assortment of paper bags and cardboard boxes shows up at our doorstep. And then, in our houses filled with chunks of cardboard and bubble wraps we ask ourselves - did we really need all that stuff? We can almost feel the weight of the clutter pulling us down. We walk our feet off in malls, and we are left drained, while a walk in the forest would have revitalized us. Another day has gone by, and all we are left with is more things and less time. The hands of the clock never stop moving.
