The Confetti Question: How will you remember your wild and precious life?

You would never imagine being in an art studio in Bushwick covered with 6 pounds of confetti until you are already doused in dust and color sticking everywhere. Dancing, laughing, and humming familiar lyrics comes up naturally until you are giggling and twirling like a child again.

The experience is an encouragement in letting go, surrendering to the chaos of confetti fluttering and unfurling down around you.

The lightness heals you as joy reveals truth in even the most serious of topics.

You are asked how you want to be remembered, what people should embrace from your life when you are gone. Some people might say cringe at the morbidity in such a playful and free space, but you can’t help but wonder if one of the reasons you are still alive is to bask in this moment.

When I met Jelena we were both in an impossible spot having moved home to take care of our sick fathers. The conversations we had mostly consisted of mutual support: we both talked a lot about death. Not in a morbid way, but rather a curious one. We both accepted the possibility of death into our lives. While my father eventually got better, Jelena’s father passed away in the spring of 2016.

You would not initially expect death and confetti to go together, but Jelena kept creating The Confetti Project as she supported her father in his cancer journey and one of her subjects also passed away from cancer. The photos eternalized their joy, their energy and life force.

Her art grew to into its meaning, and as most creators know we don’t always understand the weight of our Why until life happens to us. For Jelena, it was within the one binding truth that all of us will one day die. So how are we going to celebrate our most wild and precious life today?