I Am Overwhelmed By Everything,

and Nothing Can Stop Me

Annabel Berin knew she would end up in New York at a very young age. Her father was born and raised there, her parents met there – but, they raised her and her sister in Los Angeles. When Berin was twelve her father unexpectedly passed away. He had a dream of going to college in the city, but never got the chance to; Berin took it upon herself to fulfill his dream.

Her thesis piece “I Am Overwhelmed by Everything, and Nothing Can Stop Me” was conceived as a joke that developed into a tongue-in-cheek way to reflect on her college experiences. Through Berin’s self-designed major – which unified the facets of psychology and advertising – this piece explores the feeling of being overwhelmed and how we market ourselves to the world. Through unlikely self-examination, Berin’s thesis explores how her undergraduate experience, her major, and her family have evolved with her. By expanding and deconstructing the preconceived notions of the world, she invites you to accept these ideals as one composite: being overwhelmed is not always a negative thing.

The choice of medium was primarily inspired by the collage work of Alfred Gescheidt. Despite only discovering his work a few months prior, Berin was immediately drawn to his work. In addition to Gescheidt, inspiration was also drawn from the work of Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Kayla Newell, Félix González-Torres. Arranged in deliberate disorder, Berin uses scanned images, computer-generated objects, handwritten letters, and newly unearthed photos of her family as the instruments for visceral storytelling.

Originally, this piece was going to be present with a glass screen that contained excerpts from previous writings, stories, poems, and thoughts that were written in black light, with a flashlight that would reveal these passages. Due to COVID-19, she was unable to do this portion of the project but has included a mock-up of what the screen would have read.

This is for you, dad.