Mireille Chiv

I am terribly afraid of the future, due to its unpredictability and open-endedness. My memory isn’t very good either, giving the past a special kind of fragility. My sustained investigation,“What if I could interact with my past and future?”, lets me explore my fear of the future and the fragility of my memories. My “me” characters let me imagine if me at different times could coexist: Yellow, the past; pink, the present; and purple, the future. They are colorful to help create whimsy, as it was important the series did not feel depressing, and to show how unreal the concept of time can feel.

At the start of my series, my “me” characters were the focal points of my work due to my literal interpretation of my question. As my work progressed, I realized that I could be less literal. By making my characters interact with the environment instead of just each other, I could allow for greater experimentation. For example, in The Future Waits for No One, I tried to replicate that feeling of overwhelm that thinking about the future gives me, and the finality of certain choices. This work has let me wrangle with these fears, in hopes of making them more pleasant and less overwhelming for myself.