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Hearing hundreds of different answers to this question from hundreds of different people makes one wonder: What make some people more aware of their own mortality than others? What motivates people to take action in their lives? What values do we hold as a society? And what values do other societies around the world find important?
(1) With the prevalence of digital photography, Polaroid announced its discontinuation of products, or in other words, its “death.” Film will be sold until the current inventory is out, which is projected to be 2009. No more cameras are being made. (2) Safety contracts are a common tool used by psychologists when treating suicidal patients. When psychologists find someone to be suicidal, if they ask them to give their word that they will not harm them self until help comes, often times the potential victim will choose to remain alive based on this promise. Likewise, the best thing a layperson can do if they find someone to be suicidal is to ask that person to promise not to harm themselves until professional help comes. That human connection of making a promise to someone and understanding that someone cares, notices, and expects something is motivation to stay safe. Although that is an extreme example, we are hoping that Before I die I want to... will work in the same way. By asking people to state out loud/write down something they want to do before they die and to be aware we will be checking up on them in a number of years, we believe that this will add significantly to their motivation to accomplish their goal. The added fact that the photos and statements will be published online and in print will urge people to fulfill their desires. (3) One part cultural study, another part an encouragement to reflect on priorities and take action on desires, the Before I die I want to... project will create a new dialogue in the realm of sociological art. The project aims to urge people towards thinking about and fulfilling their life goals by asking them to make a promise to themselves and to the photographer.
Process The website is updated continuously with new portraits. In a number of years (five, ten, twenty, etc.), Nicole and ks will contact the participants via email to see if they have accomplished their goal, if they are on their way, or why they haven’t made steps in that direction. At this future time, Nicole and ks will ask them to write a short story next to their photo on the website about fulfilling their expressed want. Seeing online that other people are fulfilling their desires will motivate participants to complete their task and write a story of their own. The India portion of the project Traveling by rickshaws, trains, cars, and planes, ks + Nicole visited places such as Delhi, Udaipur, Ahmnabad, Mumbai, Goa, Cochin, Punjab, Varanasi, Amma's ashram, + McLeoud Ganj. Aiming to include a wide range of people in their project, Ks + Nicole took photos of the rich and the poor, the young and the old, city people and country folk, fellow travelers, businessmen, beggars, holy people, actors, slum dwellers, church-goers, even a bride on her wedding day, and many other characters. They stayed in cheap hotels and took photos every place they went, working with local translators and guides who knew each area well. They opened up dialogues all over the country in a quest to uncover what the people of India were all about and to see how they compare to the rest of the world. Asking people what they wanted in their lives before they died brought to life many cultural differences. Certian salient areas ks + Nicole noticed a difference in answers between the U.S. and India were regarding death, the ability to dream, and the idea of indvidualism vs. community.
Death: In America, when people hear the quesion "What do you want to do before you 'die'?," sometimes they become uncomfortable at the utterance of that last word. ks + Nicole have observed that death seems to be a subject that is swept under the rug in the states. People often times are not prepared when the inevitable arrives for themselves or for their loved ones. While many Americans are uncomfortable with death and express their fear of dying, for Indians, on the other hand, death is an intregal and accepted part of life. Interestingly, in the Trimurti (or Hindu trilogy of Gods), Shiva, the god of death and destruction is just as reveared as Brahma, the creator, and Vishnu, the maintainer or preserver. The Hindus who are able to burn their dead at Varanasi experience a viscerally close encounter with death. In this city, flanking the river Ganges, men go through a process of carrying the dead body of a loved one, washing it in the river, and then setting fire to it on a wooden pyre. No one cries as this ceremony for two reasons; death is an accepted part of life and cying is seen as bad luck. ks + Nicole were surprised to find how open family members who were there for burial rites were to having a conversation and to having their photo taken. Many people in India had thought about exactly what they wanted to say at the moment of death such as say God's name. What does this comfort with death say about Indians as people and their attitude on life? What does American's views on death say about them?
Individualism vs. Community: ks + Nicole found striking the individualism in America compared to the sense of community in India. In India, ks + Nicole found it common for people in a group to give the same answer, whereas in America, people go out of their way in order to have a unique response. In a particularly telling story, when ks + nicole asked two school boys in matching uniforms outside Udaipur, what they wanted to do before they died, they answered in unison and agreement, "I want to study!" On the other hand, at a gallery show for the Before I die I want to... project in Chicago, Nicole shot a photo of a woman who said she wanted to write a novel before she died. When Nicole told her that was a common answer, she bawked at appearing like many others in the project and edited her anwswer to say, "I want to write a fiction" to be more original. Americans are raised to be original, to be inventors, and to conquer the world as individuals where as people in India are raised in more dense communities and seem to hold the happiness and comfortableness of others in high regard.
The ability to dream: Perhaps it was a loss in translation, but many people we spoke to in India had difficulties conceptualizing the question we were asking. This often happened in the slums or shanty towns. Was it that they were on such a day to day, meal to meal, rupi to rupi existence that the idea of dreaming about what they want to do before they die was impossible for them to conceptualize? After having taking so many photos in America, this experience make ks + Nicole wonder if the ability to dream big comes with financial security. Some of the dreams Americans have (such as traveling to a foreign country for pleasure, or having a second home) are in contrast to the common more modest dreams of Indians who simply would like to study or own a shop, or maybe can't even conceptualize the idea of dreaming at all. Also, interestingly, no matter whether rich or poor, Indian or American, the vast majority of people still "wanted" more. Very few people said they had done it all, or didn't feel the need to do anything else before they died but be in the moment. How do you think the answers compare between people in America and people in India?
Future ks finished school at Columbia Art School in Chicago with a degree in art and design and an emphasis on sociological studies. ks is a racehorse when it comes to what she wants to do in life. She is passionate about art, environmental conservation, and discovering culture. After three years of a graphic design post at Time Out Chicago magazine, ks moved on to a full-time art career, and has been showing nationally and internationally since then. For three years, she co-owned an emerging artist gallery in Chicago where she curated shows and helped manage the gallery. ks is inspired by international travels which help her pursue her passion of sociological analysis and comparison. She lived in Copenhagen and traveled extensively through Scandanavia while participating in a furniture design program at Denmark’s Design School. She and Nicole also recently spent three months in India working on the Before I die project, among other travels. ks has won grants and awards for her art, and is excited about working more in the direction of public works and installations, believing that art is a right rather than a privilege. She is excited for the revelation that this project will offer. Before she dies, ks wants to affect people from all over the world with her art. She shoots on a Spectra Polaroid camera. Nicole completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in design and psychology at the University of Notre Dame. Nicole was awarded an artist-in-residency position at Fabrica, the United Colors of Benetton’s young artists research center in Treviso, Italy for 14 months. Now living in Brooklyn, she creates autobiographical artwork, where she analyzes herself and her culture. Nicole’s great aunt died when she was seven, and this begun her awareness of mortality and the fragility of life. Her volunteer work at hospice helps her further meditate on this topic. Before she dies, Nicole wants to live a long life with an amazing partner and leave some great kids behind. Her favorite camera is her granddaddy’s SX-70 Polaroid camera. |
