MEMORABILIA-THREE
During my travels, I collected another sacred item, wrapping papers. Wrapping papers represent the highest level of honor and respect when it comes to packaging a gift. I was able amass all the different designs and colors of wrapping papers from various places around the world. Then I tried to think of all the unconventional things that I usually don't wrap up and decided to depict it in my photos.
People walk through every moment of their lives, constantly, and deliberately making an effort to package and design a life they hope to live. However, this effort is close to impossible. Life isn’t as simple as what we hope to be; it is unstructured and unpredictable. Thing never go as planned. Whether the outcome is a positive or negative one, the accumulation of a person’s spontaneous and unexpected life journey is what leads to true fulfillment for life.
This is a series that reflects my personal life experiences of coming from a culture with particular boundaries and limitations. Throughout my life, I packaged and re-packaged my identity to satisfy my surrounding societal expectations and familial needs. Over time, my wrapping efforts to achieve a near-perfect, idealistic identity became an appearance that I started to embody and become. I was wrapping my identity both internally and externally through the array of life experiences I’ve had, both positive and negative.
My concept of “wrapping” doesn’t come from a place of suppression or veiling of someone’s true identity. It comes from a place of expanding the realm of opportunities to express.
I hope my work can show women from all over the world in their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s that there are endless ways to achieve their dreams through the constant experimentation of adding and collaging new layers of life on their skins.
