danielle-elizabeth:

This is a bridge in Paris. You hang locks on it with the name of you & your boyfriend/girlfriend/best-friend then throw the key into the river. so even though the friend/relationship may end, you can’t remove the lock. It stays there forever, as relevance to someone once a part of your life.

As long as I’m on the subject of bridges… I love this idea.  Because relationships of any kind - real relationships - never end.  For good or for ill, they have a lasting impact on us for as long as we live.  And (depending on what you believe) long after we live.

iamkiam:

I AM 
(acrylic, mixed media)

by Kiam Marcelo Junio
Installation shot by Heidi Norton 

Artist statement and more images here

—-

The “I AM” project is a movable street art installation made of mirrored acrylic sheets, and installed with post-its and a pen. When in public, passersby can stop and see their reflection, and write on a post-it to leave behind.  

So far, I have installed it in 5 different locations around Chicago, and have gotten different responses that run the gamut from serious (I AM: “proud to have come this far with no clue”), funny (I AM: “too sober for this”) and romantic (I AM: “so in love with him” “and I with her!”).  Some posts even elicited responses from others: (I AM: “awesome” “more awesome than that guy”), or reflect the current economic state (I AM: “unemployed” “me too”). 

I find interactive art to be the most engaging, and for so long, it had been my intent to create pieces that elicit responses from others.  While living in Spain, I had a large plank of wood in my living room, my “Inspiration Wall” on which my friends and visitors (often Couchsurfers from over 15 countries), could write, draw, glue, and express what inspires them.  The “I AM” project stems from this same idea, of sharing an internal reflection with the external world.  

During the critique for my work, a lot of topics were brought up that I plan to consider when taking the project further.  

* Color selection - whether or not each location should be color-coded with regards to post-its, perhaps limiting one location with one color.
* Placement/location - consider what is more important: seeing people’s interaction with the work, or what they write.  Too often, people will write only passing statements, nothing that reveals their true state.  No one wants to confess or spill their emotional content in public.  
* Collecting/archiving - I have various stills from each location, but my classmates all seemed to agree that video documentation would be much more effective.  In this case, where should I be in relation to the work? How will I get a video of people interacting, writing on the post-its if I’m trying to be inconspicuous?  My previous approach was to sit in a restaurant or cafe across the street.  Is this still the best approach?
* Installation - my idea is to keep the actual piece as a street installation.  Having it in a gallery setting seems to take it out of context, and gives it a formalized structure that I don’t intend.  On a gallery wall, the “I AM” project looks cold and unwelcoming.  The reflections would be that of a gallery space, rather than the street, people, and the moving, bustling life of the city.  In the future, only the documentation would exist in a gallery setting.  The actual “I AM” project would only exist outside.

I plan to continue the project.  If you live in the Chicago area, keep your eyes open!

Lovely.  I want something like this in my home, for all visitors to do.

Look at the sky. It’s not dark and black and without character. The black is in fact deep blue. And over there! Lights are blue. And blue in through the blueness, and the blackness, the winds swirling through the air… and then shining. Burning, bursting through! The stars, can you see how they roll their light? Everywhere we look, complex magic of nature blazes before our eyes.

I really love this.

This makes me all kinds of happy.

AWESOME!  I have several of these sitting around, and now I know how I want to decorate them!  :D

invisiblyill:

“The secret of learning to be sick is this: Illness doesn’t make you less of what you were. You are still you.”

—

Tony Snow

This is, aside from the pain, the most difficult part to deal with.  I do feel like a lesser version of myself.  Closing in on two years now, and I still can’t stop myself from thinking back on who I was before the Headache and missing the heck out of being her.

moonshoesdoctor:

strangelykatie:

Full version of my comic Counting Stars, which I drew for a competition.

This story is wonderful. 

I love this.  ♥

duyisk:

Jumping into the Galaxy…

I can’t stop watching this for some reason.

invisiblyill:

I felt this was relevant, because as well as disabled people, I know a lot of ill people feel this way too. Stairs really exhaust me, I’m so happy there are lifts at the college I’m going to.

This actually made me cry.  I know I have it MUCH, MUCH better than so many people.  My body is whole, and I can force myself to do it.  Doesn’t make it easy, though.  And I think people look at me taking the elevator and think it’s because I’m lazy and overweight.  I wish they all knew I had to overcome a MASSIVE fear of elevators to do it, because I fear the Headache Monster more.