about me
At every second, our mind makes new or old associations with the world around us. We see, smell, hear, taste, and touch our environments and file that away into our mind as memories that shape our voices—not just the sounds that come out of our mouths, but the way we express ourselves. With the rise of technology, we have become more aware of the lives of the people around us. But this hyper-connection has created a paradox between the optimism and self-confidence we present online and the deep vulnerabilities we feel in real life. We traded in the experiences that once grounded and connected us for the instant gratification of online culture. And as a result, we forgot the lessons of our experiences and lost our voice in the process.
Through experiential installations, I want explore how we can utilize our five senses to spark conversations about why we perceive the world the way we do. Through a multi-sensory environment, we can evoke a memory and give ourselves the physical and emotional space to redefine, contextualize, and understand our experiences and the experiences of those around us. It provides us the space we need to deepen our understanding of how various socio-historical and socio-cultural experiences have impacted who we are and our emotional selves. And it can reignite the memories that once grounded and connected us, thereby bringing us closer together.
Just as words cannot fully encompass our voice, neither can one medium of art. We are a compilation of our experiences and the experiences of the generations before us. With my work, the re-creation of a shared environment through a combination of physical objects, sound, video, and interactivity has the power to evoke nostalgia and familiarity that remind us of our common experiences. By digging deeper in our history, our social connections, and our relationship with the world, we give ourselves the tools to understand each other’s voices and express our own. My work aims to rebuild bridges that connect us and remind people that while we are all unique in our own ways, we also share experiences that show our capacity for human connection.
Cindy “Mimi” Phan