MEASURING HAPPINESS: 4/28/25 - present (2025)

5 13/16“ x 8 7/8“ x 13 1/4“
Plywood, Masonite, wood finish, Post-it notes, graphite

Measuring Happiness is a functional box made up of plywood walls, a hidden plywood base, and a Masonite lid that horizontally slides along inset grooves to open and close. The
lid has tall capital letters burned into the center that spell out “FEELINGS OF CONTRIBUTION” split between two vertically stacked lines. The lid is left halfway open,
extended out over the side of the pedestal, to reveal the interior of the box that contains a haphazard pile of face-up Post-it notes with dated handwritten entries detailing acts
performed by the artist. The exterior and interior is coated with a natural-looking oak wood finish that slightly darkens the plywood and brings out its grain. Each wall is joined by a
single finger joint that is placed higher than the last, creating a counterclockwise spiral around the box. The laminated layers of the plywood are visible on the left side of each wall
face and along the top rim of the box, accenting the box with a set of tight stripes.
The concept of this sculpture was born from a theme of tools for measuring the immeasurable. Much of my recent work has been exploring concepts from Adlerian psychology that I was introduced to through the books The Courage to be Disliked and The Courage to be Happy by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kichimi. The authors posit that Adler understands happiness to be the feeling of contribution. With this work, I aim to ‘measure’ my own happiness over time by tracking instances in which I felt I have contributed to others, because I believe I suffer to some extent from alexithymia, or emotional blindness.
Since it is difficult for me to recognize when I am happy, I live in a kind of anhedonic state. It is my hope that this experiment will act as a tool to combat my depression by giving me
evidence of happiness in my day-to-day life. The work will be complete once the box is full, and the title will reflect the end date.