You're Worth the Room
Ariana Ushiki
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, I spent a fair amount this year examining the physical and emotional relationship of people to their spaces. The pandemic has abruptly changed our relationship to our spaces; being home once felt more like a home base, but now become our entire world. Our communities are often seen as prisons to escape one day rather than areas can appreciate at this moment now. Our bodies and our shelters are prisons rather than a place of peace. I’d like to challenge this phenomenon and see if there’s a way to embrace our extended times in our most immediate spaces.
You’re Worth the Room is a game made of three decks meant to challenge different layers of space humans to interact with on a daily basis; the community, the home, and the self. In this thesis, my goal was to explore the idea of “taking up space” and using space as a tool to heal during this time of stagnation. Rather than being stuck in our spaces, we can grow and begin to understand and reflect on the spaces we take up.