Here are photos of my installation "100 Meaningful Things" and I cannot thank you enough for sharing your wonderful stories with me! I collaborated with Airbnb and Design Miami/ to create a piece that evoked a sense of belonging for people visiting the site, and I loved that I also got to collaborate with my own followers on this project! People from 33 countries participated in this! High-five team!!! :)
A hundred big white helium balloons were installed on site, and on each of their strings I attached your stories. At eye-level, I attached images of your meaningful objects onto a circle disk, and to encourage interaction, visitors had to pull the balloon down to read the second disk which was attached further up. The second disk were stories about each object. After reading them, these balloons were released back up.
Throughout this collaborative project with you, I was surprised how many of you openly shared your hearts with me (some emails are really long and I will reply them this week! I promise I read every single email :)). There were stories that were sweet, sad, and funny, but all of them were meaningful. It made me realise that we may be from very different places and backgrounds, but we want the same things - love, purpose and belonging. Your vulnerability of sharing your stories photos created a deeper connection between all of us.
This space symbolises a warm welcome by people all over the world who have opened themselves up by sharing their most cherished memories. I hope that visitors walked away that day with greater clarity in the meaning of their relationships and lives.
Special thanks to my fantabulous team Chui Nee Wong, Michael Mack, Rachel Mui, Sam Koh and Terri Ng for assisting me with this project, and for Vered Zaykovsky, a wonderful educator who I met at NABA Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti Milan, whose balloon installation on the topic of happiness inspired this design. #airbnb #designmiami #BelongAnywhere
More photos still!
