What is a real friend? An excerpt of post-it notes collected from Are you really my friend?
Posti-it notes with the keyword: LOVE
In 2012, as I was designing an exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art, I wanted an interactive element of the show. I posed the question “What is a real friend?” and had the audience write their answer on a post-it note and add it to the Museum wall. Since that time, I’ve amassed tens of thousands of Post-it notes on friendship from third graders in the South Bronx to PhD candidates at MIT, and from many people all over the world in between.
I saw the same ideas emerging in the collection, even the same words over and over: cares for, is loyal, doesn’t judge. Sociologists have studied the moral values we all hold dear to us across demographic lines. They found we all equally share the values of loyalty and liberty. Authority, care, sanctity and fairness are ones that go up and down depending if identify yourself as liberal or conservative. In this time of division in world politics, I believe people find comfort in both writing and reading these small testimonials -- they remind us very simply, we’re all human, despite our differences.
These notes have become an integral part of Are you really my friend?, allowing anyone with a pencil and piece of paper the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences with friendship. Some notes are incredibly personal while others are more universal. The variations colors of the squares, handwriting, marks, drawings and crinkles of the paper turn the words into beautiful little objects.