At the start of the pandemic tensions, anxieties, and fear of the unknown overwhelmed us from the moment we woke up to when we signed off of zoom, and back again.

This series was my attempt at finding some happiness and creativity during that muddled time. What began as a fun collage of The Girl with The Pearl Earring by Vermeer, one of my favorite works of art, became a personal meditation on my life, my love for whimsical storytelling, and appreciation for color as a tool for connection. 

At first, I created the collage as a personal project but as I shared with coworkers, it evolved into a series for my employer at the time, Tanya Taylor, to use on instagram to bring joy to our customers as well. I was encouraged to create more colorful vignettes of other famous works of art, and to use archival prints and products from the brand's former collections. The palette thus shifted towards more pinks and purples defined by those earlier seasons. 

#happyframeofmind is the hashtag for the series, where I turned the world’s most beloved, yet sombre paintings into more joyful versions of themselves.

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