Sculpture

In his self-published “Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows”, writer John Koenig defines the word “Sonder” as “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.” We often have the impulse to view ourselves as the “main character” of our story, and others as “extras”. However, each stranger we come across has a life just as intricate as our own- populated with regrets, ambitions, routines, and inherited craziness. 

“Strangers” hopes to give a small peek into these otherwise unknown lives. Each photograph shown on the face of a figure was found abandoned, whether it be left in a photo album at a thrift store or on the floor of an abandoned restaurant. You are led to question: Who are the people in this image? What were the circumstances of it being taken? What series of events took place for it to become abandoned? 

The statues sit, barren of detail, just as we see the “extras” that pass us every day. They sit unspeaking, offering up no details, and we are left only to wonder at their story as if we were gazing at someone in a passing car or beside us on the subway. 

“Strangers” urges you to consider your place in this greater framework. You could easily be a stranger to someone else’s story. It encourages you to turn your perspective outward and to maybe have a little more careful and curious compassion for those who pass you by.