Statement

Each individual has their own story, dreams and their own philosophy to live by. We are shaped by our memories, good and bad, and leave our footprints in other's lives. So what does it mean to be human? What makes us 'us'? By sharing our stories with others we make ourselves vulnerable and form connections on different levels and eventually in one way or another find out what it truly means to be human.
Our goal is to make a countermap with other people's experiences to show how everyone has their own story to tell, but still share so much with others because we often forget how many lives we touch upon. Each life is as vivid and complex as our own. We felt like we should involve the people around us, our classmates, friends and family to visualize this in the form of a body map. To gather stories about our classmates, friends and familiy, we created a survey asking them to visualize and sketch a key memory that has contributed to who they are today. We see the body as our own archive full of feelings, emotions and stories. It carries and stores every experience we make. However, our experiences are not the only thing that defines us as humans. We all have believes and thoughts that we need to express. We write poems, read books and create with our hands. This inspired us to think beyond the body and read into palmistry, an old pratice of people 'mapping' and reading their fortunes and experiences by interpreting the lines on their hands in heart, fate and life matters. By including this into our project, it
allowed to to regroup and connect the experiences of our peers better.

This body map will finally visualize the complexity each and every one of us has in their lives, but should also show that we are never alone.