INVALUABLE

Abstract

Does everything that exists have a meaning? Does everything that exists have value? As humans, we question these existential quandaries endlessly. We will never know how and why we, and the world around, us exist. The only truth is that we exist. We get happiness, sadness, and frustration from existence. We agonize about our existence, mostly related to the existence of others. For instance, we find pleasure in certain things: we may find meaning for our lives from the existence of a dear person or we may find happiness from the possession of a special object. When we build a relationship with someone or something, it creates new meaning. The meaning and value of existence are changeable depending on where and how something exists. For instance, even though it is a lifeless object, if I have a strong attachment to the object a new meaning is created. This meaning is different from the previous meaning of the object, it therefore now exists for me as something unique. My studio practice explores the meaning and value of the existence of things, including humans, and reveals them through photography, video, and installation. My art consists of giving new meaning to abandoned or forgotten objects and considers the essential meaning of human existence. Drawing on Semiotics this paper documents how my work considers new meanings for ordinary objects and situations.