💖 GFP 💖
💖💖💖
If you look up into the windows of 808 commonwealth ave this Wednesday morning you will notice three hearts shining down on Boston University and its busy highway of a campus. Situated in these pixelated heart glyphs are the letters G, F, & P, which stand for ✨Guilty✨ Free ✨Pleasures✨.
🌸🌸🌸🌼🌼🌼🌼🌷🌷🌷💐💐💐🌸🌸🌸🌼🌼🌼🌼🌷🌷🌷💐💐💐🌸🌸🌸🌼🌼🌼🌼🌷🌷🌷💐💐💐🌸🌸🌸🌼🌼🌼🌼🌷🌷🌷💐💐💐🌸🌸🌸🌼🌼🌼🌼🌷
On the opposite sides of the hearts inside of room 409, the three hearts spell out Guilty Free Pleasures in a pixelated font. As you get closer to the window installation the viewer can take in pixelated images of “guilty” pleasures and excerpts from a New York Time’s article titled “‘Guilty’ Pleasures? No Such Thing. Go forth and read that trashy novel.” by Micaela Marini Higgs in 2019. I was incredibly inspired by this article while researching for my senior thesis. The essence of the op-ed states that :
“We should be free to enjoy whatever we like! And as it turns out, these so-called “guilty” pleasures can actually be good for us, so long as they’re enjoyed in moderation.”
The story is then supported by research from Dr. Kristin Neff an associate professor in the department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. “When we rest, we think we’re supposed to use that time productively with problem solving,” says Neff. While “that may be good for survival,” Dr. Neff said, constantly running through hypothetical problems “is not very good for happiness.”
My senior thesis revolves around the idea of embracing a hyper-feminine aesthetic in an increasingly masculine world, and I wanted this project to as well. So i opted for pink hearts for their attention grabbing potential, yet feminine & nature. I want to re-contextualize ideas that have been preconceived to be unserious in nature and turn them on their heads. In this instance I am taking the ideas of guilty pleasures through my perspective as a girl who grew up in the 2000’s, and letting the audience know that, hey, it’s ok to like this stuff. In fact, it might be good for you from time-to-time.
My personal “guilty” (ugh) pleasures include Jersey Shore, James Cameron’s Titanic, cup-o-noodles, Paris Hilton’s hit reality TV show the Simple Life, Playboy’s The Girls Next door reality TV show, Ariana Grande, The Notebook, Mariah Carey’s Christmas album, and more.
I chose to pixelate the images, font, and installation itself in reference to text messages on pink Razr flip phones, Myspace, and early IM-ing.
👙👙👙👗👗👗👛👛👛🦋🦋🦋👙👙👙👗👗👗👛👛👛🦋🦋🦋👙👙👙👗👗👗👛👛👛🦋🦋🦋👙👙👙👗👗👗👛👛👛🦋🦋🦋👙👙👙👗👗👗👛👛👛🦋🦋🦋
The process involved in making this was a lot of measuring, printer failure, double-sided tape, more measuring, sweat, and coffee. Not to say that I didn’t have a good time.
From the beginning I found setting up my design files to be pretty satisfying. After measuring the window, I set up a grid and filled it in with 3x3 inch squares. It was a lot easier to line them up in illustrator 🙄 but there’s no align tool for windows (hah).
During the construction phase, I went through an x-acto blade and two (!) rolls of double sided tape. I found the most difficult part of this project to be the actual puzzle I created for myself. Once I got the “G” mixed up with the “P” I was done for, and then I had to tape the 3x3 abstracted pieces backwards without messing up. Working alone it took me 3 hours straight to install GFP, but I am very proud of my installation.
While the concept is personal to me, I hope that a passer-by will take into account the incredibly hard year they have universally had, and remember that it is important to relax and indulge in their pleasures from time-to-time.
🍬🍬🍬🍹🍹🍹🌈🌈🌈🔮🔮🔮🎀🎀🎀💝🍬🍬🍬🍹🍹🍹🌈🌈🌈🔮🔮🔮🎀🎀🎀💝🍬🍬🍬🍹🍹🍹🌈🌈🌈🔮🔮🔮🎀🎀🎀💝🍬🍬🍬🍹🍹🍹🌈🌈🌈🔮🔮🔮🎀🎀🎀💝🍬🍬🍬🍹🍹🍹🌈🌈🌈🔮🔮🔮🎀🎀🎀💝
