This is a jar for your f***s
What does a jar of f***s look like?
To answer the question, anonymous contributors send in jars filled with:
times they used f-word (out loud or in their head)
stories about being f***ed over
things they give a f*** about
things they DON’T give a f*** about
as well as fuckit moments, ohfuck moments, and WTF?! moments
I want to make space for all those moments when we say oh f***! When our emotions are too big and they don’t have any place to go. When there are things we wish we could say, but can’t or shouldn’t. When we need to put our spinning thoughts on a shelf for the night so we can get some f-Ing sleep. That’s what the jar is for.
We are adapting this project to the restrictions of Covid-19, so you can safely view and participate. This project will be featured by the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Jose, CA beginning November 2020. Follow the Jar of F***s Project on the ICA Instagram.
About the Project
The project started in October of 2019 when my partner came home seriously ill after a business trip . It was my first semester back to work as a new parent and our daughter was five months old. I was still getting used to the sensations of my changed body post-pregnancy, the hormones of breastfeeding, and all the new ways life becomes more complicated as a parent. He was physically not able to help with caregiving while he went back and forth to the hospital and I was alone with the baby, while we wondered what was wrong with him and whether he would be ok.
I had so many “oh-f*** moments” during that time I could fill a jar with them. I wondered “What would it look like to fill a jar with all those f***s"? And because I tend to think about how other people relate to their own moments of hardship, I also wondered “What do other people’s jars of f***s look like?”
To answer these questions, I invited the community to anonymously contribute jars filled with moments they said the f-word, stories about being f***ed over, or things they do or don’t give a f*** about.
At first, I collected the jars during the winter of 2019-2020 and put them in an exhibition at Embark Gallery in January 2020. Gallery attendees were invited to open the jars and view what was inside them. The gallery was open for about a month before Covid forced it to close prematurely. I collected the jars, and packed them away, not knowing what would happen next.
Now, almost a year after the initial start of the project, I am opening it back up again for new submissions. In collaboration with the ICA’s Practice Safe Art program, I will be presenting both previously collected jars, as well as new jars collected during the time of Covid-19.
Beginning Tuesday, November 24, I will begin to unbox and unpack the jars in an intimate viewing experience via a series of videos, live performances, and photographic documentations through Instagram.