About 'The Art of Worth'

(Holy Basil)

What is your greatest wish? If you could ask for anything for yourself, what would it be? Why don’t you ask?

    These three questions were the beginning―or the seeds, of artist Dawn Breeze’s new interactive SEA art project, “The Art of Worth, Part 1: Ask Anything”. Breeze collected online responses throughout the year. Quickly Breeze realized she wanted to share the responses with the public, and also offer a living gift that could be a bridge between the ideas grown from these questions and real life ad infinitum. Breeze grew wishing plants to give away to participants, so they could participate in growing their wishes through nurturing a plant that would give medicine. Breeze began collaborating with a local herb farm and annual makers market to both grow the plants herself and have a venue for giving the plants away, along with an opportunity for the audience to read the online responses and add new responses in person.

    Breeze imagined what it would feel like for the public to find their secrets amongst others. She thought maybe where there was shame would instead be compassion, as people found their private responses echoed by others. She wondered how does individual self-worth affect the collective experience in life?

    This project aims to illustrate the discrepancy between what we wish for, and what we ask for ourselves. This project shows that self-worth is a critical and determining factor of being capable of asking for and receiving something one wants or needs. Breeze hope's to illustrate the grander picture of low self-worth: that we can not collectively achieve our greatest wishes for the world, if we do not feel our individual needs and desires are valuable.  
   Breeze believes this dialogue can begin when we see ourselves reflected in others; when we see others’ feelings that we have felt in secret. Breeze hopes that when we read each others’ responses we experience compassion, and when we recognize ourselves in others, we begin to develop self-compassion. This project aims to cause an interruption in our socially acceptable stoic beliefs, showing that often times these beliefs are masking fear and low-self worth. The project does not expect to discover the systemic illnesses causing low self-worth, but rather to draw attention to low self-worth as it affects our ability to ask for our needs and desires. This project wants to create new questions, some of which are:

What if what matters to me also matters to the world? What if I matter to the world? What if I recognize asking as an act of freedom? What if we can grow our self-worth, by growing self-compassion?

Dawn Breeze busy transplanting Calendula

Where and When:

The Hudson River Exchange                                                           

 WHERE : The Park is located on Water Street in Hudson, NY behind the Amtrak Train Station. See map and directions here.                         

WHEN  : 10am-6pm Saturday June 27th + 11am-4pm Sunday June 28th 2015                                                                                                    Event will take place -- rain or shine!