Ali Brown

When I Grow Up (i want to be)

Collaborating with personal archives that reveal limitless plans for the future, 'When I Grow Up (i want to be)' encourages contemplation of how childhood dreams shape our present identities.

“Anxiously awaiting graduation from nursery school, I look out at my family in the audience. The painted photograph is interrupted by a childhood archive in which I confess my dreams of becoming a teacher. As the subject and maker, I feel the ongoing presence of this document in my current identity–my enduring desire to become an educator, nearly 20 years later. My peers adopt a daydreaming posture, subtly inviting the viewer to consider how their childhood dreams relate to their present identities. ”