Heart Shaped Box

"The passion play is over, the stage an empty box. The actors washed their faces, the guests all headed home. Memories of laughter and applause fade quickly as you sit in silence, smiling but alone."

Found this "Altered Art" box the other day. It must be at least 20 years old. It had a completely different meaning for me when I created it. But trying to explain it seems silly now, so I went for the cheap thrill instead. Even I'm not jaded enough to post it on Valentine's Day though, so I waited until the day after.

Made this "Altered Art" box at least twenty years ago. I did a whole series of these boxes as a way to blow off steam and express myself after working in a stressful, detail-oriented day-job. They helped me loosen up and, as you can tell from the sloppy finish, stop worrying so much about every little step of the process. Guess that was important somehow because I have saved several of them for all these years. And they have a different meaning to me every time I find them.

Staggering Perfection

It was perfect. I had defeated the urge to be normal, taken the doors off a cabinet, and found a way to fit more storage containers on every shelf. The containers fit snugly together, the edges of their lids barely kissing. The stacks of identical standardized containers were very pretty and neat. I felt organized and smart.

The storage containers stacked neatly onto the shelves with their lids just barely touching. It was pretty and perfect.

Then I tried taking one of the containers off a shelf, just one, and all the beautiful oragnization collapsed into a mess of random boxes.

unSCREW the Rules

As a rebel and freethinker, I fearlessly mod, hack and repurpose everything that comes within easy reach. So, when I found myself hesitating to simply remove one unneeded part from a donated piece of furniture, I had to ask myself why. It gave me some insight, not very deep but still an insight, into how the minds of normal people work and how that discomfort can control their ability to mod, hack and repurpose disposable commercial items.