"The Symons Block Hotel is redefining how it fosters connections
by adding a unique twist to the visitor experience." - KXLY
This Free Love Letters art installation was inspired by a combination of things: my documentation of past experiences since I was eight years old; exchanging letters from my mother who was traveling America; treasuring notes and poems my crushes wrote to me; collecting my friends, mentors and professors encouragements; experiencing one of my mentors deaths and finally an Italian artist in Rome named Greg Goya.
Although singing was where I first felt this, I believe it to be true in writing: the voice can be an instrument to soften a heart, to break down walls, to restore lives and to heal past wounds. When I zoom out on the human experience, I know and have seen the brevity of life. That time is finite and our presence truly matters because it eventually ends. This line of thinking forces me to focus on things I value, and two of those things are creativity and connection.
In the first creative team I led for Symons Block Hotel, we asked “what does it mean to come alive? To be alive?” And thats when we discovered we believe in the power of playfulness, connection, pausing and curiosity. This is also where I began to see the connections of my experiences and how I approach the world with Symons Block Hotel.
In some ways the Free Love Letters art installation reminds me of the trees in Manito Park. Seeing them altogether is its own experience, their quantity and variety in size and color curate an artwork for the viewer. And then when you step up close to one, it’s an entirely different, more intimate experience. You see the rough bark, maybe even touch a leaf, you get a more accurate sense its size the closer you are, and for some, it makes you feel grounded. The installation at a distance is beautiful, minimal, modern, and you can see the quantity of hand written letters within the frame. When you pick one of the letters folded into a paper airplane, it’s individualized. It shifts from a community experience to an individual one.
Although singing was where I first felt this, I believe it to be true in writing: the voice can be an instrument to soften a heart, to break down walls, to restore lives and to heal past wounds. When I zoom out on the human experience, I know and have seen the brevity of life. That time is finite and our presence truly matters because it eventually ends. This line of thinking forces me to focus on things I value, and two of those things are creativity and connection.
In the first creative team I led for Symons Block Hotel, we asked “what does it mean to come alive? To be alive?” And thats when we discovered we believe in the power of playfulness, connection, pausing and curiosity. This is also where I began to see the connections of my experiences and how I approach the world with Symons Block Hotel.
In some ways the Free Love Letters art installation reminds me of the trees in Manito Park. Seeing them altogether is its own experience, their quantity and variety in size and color curate an artwork for the viewer. And then when you step up close to one, it’s an entirely different, more intimate experience. You see the rough bark, maybe even touch a leaf, you get a more accurate sense its size the closer you are, and for some, it makes you feel grounded. The installation at a distance is beautiful, minimal, modern, and you can see the quantity of hand written letters within the frame. When you pick one of the letters folded into a paper airplane, it’s individualized. It shifts from a community experience to an individual one.
Leaning in more, the Free Love Letters art installation is this massive invitation. An invitation into playfulness by not only folding it into an airplane activating your memory from childhood, but flying it into the hole at the top requires you to bring forth that inner child, which most adults have let go. It’s also an invitation to contribute to someone else’s human experience. When you “leave one” you are intentionally speaking value into someone’s life. You could be writing things you wish you heard growing up. You could write something you wish you had the bravery to say. You could write the words, “you matter. You are valued. You are loved.” And then finally, when you “take one,” you are allowing yourself permission to accept someone else’s contribution to the human experience, and really receive. And my hope, is that we all feel those things that make us feel alive. That we would feel curiosity and playfulness and joy. That we would feel a sense of contribution and connection, (hopefully at a global level soon with different languages represented) and ultimately, that we will feel loved and valued, AS IS. In the very moment we are in.
So at the end of my life, whenever that is, what will I have to express? What will I be proud of? I believe contributing to beauty is what I was created to do. And along the way, I want to use my voice as the instrument that inspires.
Come experience the installation yourself at Symons Block Hotel soon :] See you there.
So at the end of my life, whenever that is, what will I have to express? What will I be proud of? I believe contributing to beauty is what I was created to do. And along the way, I want to use my voice as the instrument that inspires.
Come experience the installation yourself at Symons Block Hotel soon :] See you there.