As always, I started off today’s journal entries asking my friends what objects have evoked the feeling of love within them. Here’s a couple answers:
Ada (Camera, Rain)
Christa (Fresh Baked Bread)
One object that evoked Love and Surprise for me this week was receiving a photo album in the mail from my grandmother (naniji).
Love:
I think one of the reasons why it evoked love was the amount of intentionality behind the album: Naniji had to come up with the idea, pick out which photo prints to send, write out a message and mail it – all very deliberate actions taken with me in mind. Another reason why I enjoy photographs is because they serve as a tangible reminder of love and can be a time capsule for how our relationship was in that moment in time. One thing that is interesting is the size and shape of a photograph – because they’re small and thin, it’s very easy to transport them around when I move homes. This is an attribute I desire out of this object because it means I never have to leave it behind when I don’t want to. The interactions I have with this object are viewing it, displaying it, and having it serve as a reminder.
Surprise:
The object also evokes surprise because I received something that I wasn’t expecting to receive. The interactions I have with this object that evoke surprise was unwrapping it and viewing never-before-seen photographs. Another aspect of surprise resulted from one of photographs itself – I had never seen it before, and it contained naniji wearing a sweater which I now own and wear frequently. I was surprised that the sweater has lasted so long and surprised by the fact that naniji wore a western sweater when I’ve only ever remembered her in traditional Indian clothes. The sweater is another object that now evokes love – something about being gifted a clothing item that has been worn by someone I love makes me feel closer to them.
Side Notes:
I’m actually super excited for both these emotions because Love and Surprise are the two main emotions I seek to evoke through my GX Project: The Game of You. Game of You is a curated collection of personalized puzzles to gift to any loved one celebrating a milestone event. The box comes with four puzzles that are personalized using information volunteered by the gifter(s), and each one aims to celebrate the relationship between gifter and gifted.