George Ferrandi is a Brooklyn-based artist whose latest project, ‘It Felt Like I Knew You’, involves falling asleep on strangers riding the New York subway.
‘It Felt Like I Knew You’ plays with the way we construct and shape our space. George directs her mental and emotional energy into the space between her and a stranger until she feels the space soften.
That’s when she starts to slump down, slowly, until her head rests on the stranger’s shoulder. Her friend Angela documents it all from across the aisle.
The takeaway is pretty great:
“It just confirmed what I already knew about New Yorkers. I moved to NY on Sept. 10th, 2001, so my first understanding of New Yorkers was that they are tender and vulnerable and caring. We put up a good front of toughness, but just beneath that shell, we’re pretty squishy.”
Rethink. Reshape. And stay squishy, y’all.
