DRAW A CHAIR / TELL ME A STORY
Temporary Interactive Public Installation
Washington Square Park, New York, 2022
Plywood chair with vinyl, pegboard display, and printed book documenting responses
This project was a public storytelling exercise where I collected drawings and stories of chairs from strangers over 3 days in New York’s Washington Square Park. The prompt was to ‘draw a chair from memory or imagination, write why you chose to draw it.’ I spoke to over a hundred people and many asked, why chairs? My response was always the same, I love talking to people about the chairs in their life because I end up learning about them and the people they love.
Later exhibited opening night of Pink Essay’s ‘Wear Your Chair’ pop-up exhibition at Nomia NYC
More Information: Pink Essay Exhibit
The goal of this public exercise and installation was to offer strangers an opportunity to think about the connections they have to the furniture in their lives. The plywood chair covered in vinyl displayed a description of the project and the prompt. The angled bottom of the chair was used to hold a notepad I hot glue bound and mounted to a drawing surface with a pen attached. The peg board chair silhouette was used to display the participant's work.
Thoughtful conversations were had, and I got to watch people smile as they read strangers’ stories displayed on the pegboard. The stories and drawings were intimate and gave touching insights into our actions and attachments to the chairs and people in our lives.
