Project: PROJECT 55+ • Collection of Works • 2017 - Ongoing
With Project 55, I once again used myself as an instrument of identity. As part of my studio practice, I set off on creating one work of art to represent one year of my life every week for 55 weeks culminating in my 55th birthday. Created in no particular order, these works act as onion layers revealing the journey of one lifetime. This has become an ongoing body of work as I continue to revisit this project every year as I stumble into another year of life.
Flip Through the Project Book on ISSUU
To get a full picture of the project, flip through the current version of the Project Book complete with images and stories. Goes through Year Fifty-Eight.
Q&A
What is this work really about?
Over the course of the year, Project 55 developed to become something much more significant than when I started. My initial goal was self serving to keep at my studio practice on a regular basis. I didn’t realize the depth of the work I was creating until I was submerged into it.
This work became an effort to reveal the beauty, sadness, triumph and struggles of my life to celebrate the complexity of experiences and evolution. I hope that the takeaway is that a viewer of the work will reject the notion that the people around them can be condensed to a one-dimensional note.
In a way, this series is an act of rebellion on my part against being defined by other forces. I recoil at the beast that lives at the core of social media, cancel culture and stereotyping. It acts to strip our humanity. Social media’s attempt at showcasing ‘perfect lives,’ cancel culture’s unforgiveness and stereotyping’s limiting definitions undermine the true beauty of who we are.
In the end, I’d like to think that I am asking what the world might look like if we saw each other as complex beings ever evolving and changing.
Artwork Below: Year Fifty-Nine (2021) • Year Sixty (2022) • Year Sixty-One (2023)
Have you found any unintended results or reactions to this work?
As I revealed the project through the paintings and the stories of my life, I found it had an impact on people that was quite profound. It was more than someone seeing me in a new light. It was that they resonated with their own complex journey through life. It was as if I gave them permission to embrace all they had gone through and the changes that made them who they are in the present. That unexpected connection touched me deeply.
On a professional note, I was surprised by seeing the extent of my artistic hand. When I look at the whole through the eyes of process, I see I have created a personal vocabulary of style, color and texture. Project 55 has become a touchstone for when I find myself at a creative roadblock.