The Risk in Love and Loss
DATE
Original: Jan-May, 2020
Update: November, 2022
CATEGORY
Publication, installation
DESIGNER
Jane Lu
CREDIT
Graphic Design Senior Thesis at California College of the Arts
Original: Jan-May, 2020
Update: November, 2022
CATEGORY
Publication, installation
DESIGNER
Jane Lu
CREDIT
Graphic Design Senior Thesis at California College of the Arts
Thesis:
Broken Heart Club
Love is a risk. As we pursue it, embrace it, or leave it behind, we’re constantly putting ourselves in a vulnerable position.
This project aims to acknowledge the pains individuals went through, the sacrifices they made, efforts they put into their “failed” relationships through the form of storytelling, put into their failed relationships through perceptible pages that materialize abstract relationships into physical objects. We started with collecting survivors’ stories, cleaning them up into pamphlets, and wrapping them up with unique representations of objects to each story. As we build up a collective voice of survivors’ stories, we hope to engage the storytellers and the audiences to look at & interpret these stories, to learn from them, to heal from them, and also to grow from them.
Broken Heart Club
Love is a risk. As we pursue it, embrace it, or leave it behind, we’re constantly putting ourselves in a vulnerable position.
This project aims to acknowledge the pains individuals went through, the sacrifices they made, efforts they put into their “failed” relationships through the form of storytelling, put into their failed relationships through perceptible pages that materialize abstract relationships into physical objects. We started with collecting survivors’ stories, cleaning them up into pamphlets, and wrapping them up with unique representations of objects to each story. As we build up a collective voice of survivors’ stories, we hope to engage the storytellers and the audiences to look at & interpret these stories, to learn from them, to heal from them, and also to grow from them.
Process
1.
STATEMENT & CONCEPTWe started from the word “risk”, taking the route of love. After brainstorming and research, we pinpoint some statements as the risk in love could manifest in the ways below:
- When you love, there’s no guarantee that you’re going to get loved in return, or if there’s going to be any form of return if at all.
- When you try to avoid the risk in love, most of the time you will fail to seek what you’re looking for.
- Love itself is a flaw we seek willingly: love might be the only chance for us to give in and expose our vulnerabilities, willingly, to the danger, to the risks.
THESIS STATEMENT
Love is a risk. As we pursue it,
embrace it, or leave it behind,
we’re constantly putting ourselves
in a vulnerable position.
2.
SURVEY & INTERVIEWSince the stories we’re asking for are highly personal, we conducted interviews with 15 anonymous individuals (30 hours). We asked each individual to talk about their most memorable “failed” relationship.
The structure of the interview is flexible based on how much the individual wants to share, and how the stories carry out from their point of view.
We make sure to touch down these points below:
- What is the relationship like?
- Is there any hard decisions you made going into the relationship? What do you consider “risk” loving that person?
- Why did it end?
- What is your takeaway from that experience?
3.
REFINE THE STORIESAfter organizing the stories from audio recordings, we try identify the core that drives these stories. At the end of the day, we selected 5 stories based on different reasons why the relationship failed, and the challenges the individuals face during the relationship.
4.
SYMBOLS & OBJECTSAs we went through the stories, we start to uncover and notices symbols and objects both literally and metaphorically. To visualize and intrigue audiences to read further, we thought physical objects would be a good way to incorporate and bring part of that story into reality as something tangible.
As for the deliverables, we all agreed this would be a more text-based publication. The reading environment is a huge factor in the experience itself. All the elements are to be considered to make this experience more intimate.
Exhibit
EXHIBIT 1
Untitled
In the 90s, she left her country to pursue a new life with him.
However, what awaits them was not the happily ever after,
instead of a series of broken dreams.
READ HERE
Untitled
In the 90s, she left her country to pursue a new life with him.
However, what awaits them was not the happily ever after,
instead of a series of broken dreams.
READ HERE
EXHIBIT 2
Romance that Ends at the Border
In the interview, he told me: “I often say that Trump broke this relationship, but that is not true.” A love story about commitment, the consequential reality one has to face making it, and the regret.
Read the full story HERE.
EXHIBIT 3
You Didn’t Make Me
A story about love turns into obsession, a girl’s self-realization,
strength and her growth walking away from it.
Read the full story HERE.
EXHIBIT 4
Like a Broken Kite
A story about young love, mistakes, broken promises,
and the right one at the wrong time and wrong place.
Read the full story HERE
EXHIBIT 5
Untitled
Two strangers fell in love coincidentally on a night out with friends,
but eventually grew apart.
Read the full story HERE.
If you’re intrigued after viewing the exhibited items, you can read the detailed anonymous stories related to the exhibit items. They are in the form of printed small books with correlated tags, put into the small cabinet box on the desk.
