Each object represents a different kind of cost involved in becoming a person: some tangible, others harder to measure. The star balloon is an ode to adolescence, specifically the star stickers we received as kids for doing something well. They represent achievement, validation, and the rewards we were given for doing the “right” thing. As an adult, that line becomes blurrier. There is no longer someone deciding what deserves a star; you begin to dictate that for yourself.
The kiss is about love and intimacy, and everything they ask of us: time, vulnerability, heartbreak, distance, compromise, and sacrifice. The gun alludes to temptation. I was drawn to the contradiction of depicting something so ornate and delicate that is also inherently dangerous. How often do we choose the exciting path knowing it might be unstable? And how often do we choose the safe one and wonder what could have been?
The lock and key represent the self. Every year, you think you’ve finally unlocked some part of who you are. Then you change. Another key appears, another lock.These objects are laid over a guest check, as though a life could be neatly itemized and accounted for. But the total is blocked out, because the cost of everything we choose, lose, risk, love, and leave behind can never really be calculated.
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