Simulacra.

One of the driving forces when approaching this fantastic undertaking offered by our dear Friends of the Orphan Signs!

But first: Whose history should be represented? This became my mantra: whose history should be represented, whose history should be represented, whose history –

You get the picture…

Perhaps herstory.

That's it!
No. Too broad.

My story?
No. Too short.

"That's it," I thought, "represent every single body".

I was losing focus.

So finally, Lindsey of the Friends of the Orphan Signs intervened, urging me to work as an artist would and create.

Simple. Painfully simple.

I realized I was first approaching this project as one might do for a business, thinking too...broadly!

Things are as they are because things were as they were.

This became my brand-new mantra. Then I remembered a question posed by author and experimental filmmaker Gerry Fialka: why do we ignore the hidden effects of things we invent? More importantly, however, was a simple phrase Fialka opened the lecture with to prime the audience for the aforementioned inquiry: effects precede causes.

Reason backwards.

That's it. I would reason backwards, thinking, perhaps, the designers for the original sign put some hidden meaning in their work. And then I saw it: a heart. And then a feeling: Love.

Why do we ignore the hidden effects of things we invent?

"Those people who designed that original sign knew what we'd need in the future," I cried out, "love."

...perhaps I was reaching a bit, but it feels good, right? Because we just wouldn't ignore the hidden effects of things we invent, I declared!