Measuring Histories

For this assignment we were prompted to find a way to measure our personal stories. I drew inspiration from examples we were shown that used quantifiable and mathematical measurements to record experiences.

I decided to write down every place I've lived, and then calculated the distance in miles between each place, adding them up to get a grad total. Because I wanted to highlight not just my own histories, but those of my parents as well, I asked them to do the same. When I finally had all these distances recorded, I came up with a ratio that I could use to represent these distances on a smaller scale. I converted each of our total distances to inches and used those new measurements to cut out cut three lengths of twine. Each black dot on the twine represents a different place lived. I then used a different ratio to convert the original distances in miles to minutes. I drew us each a portrait allowing myself only the amount of minutes we each had corresponding to our distances traveled.

My mom who had traveled the most had the longest twine, and the most amount of detail in her portrait. My dad also had a long twine and time spent on his portrait. I wanted this project to highlight the differences in the amount of wisdom and experience between my parents and I. Although calculating travel is not the perfect way of representing the amount of life lived, I still think this finished project helped present wisdom and growth in a very tangible way.