Artist Profile: Krista Langley

“What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”

Krista Langley had a question and a Polaroid camera.  She yielded an inside look into her friends and family’s dreams.  The Orris asked Krista to share some of her work and discuss the inspiration behind this project.

What was the inspiration for this project?

Ever since I was little, I’ve loved taking pictures.  I feel the need to capture time, so I’ll always remember. My Dad would often take family pictures and videos, and I grew up wanting to document everything. A few years back, I stumbled across my parent’s old Polaroid and I started taking head shots of my family. I love that there’s room to write on polaroids, and I figured this could be a very cool documentary project.  I started asking people, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” Everyone’s answers are so interesting because I really get a glimpse into their character and imagination.

Borrowing the question in your project, what would you do if you knew you could not fail? 

Three years ago, I answered “I would make everyone I met infinitely happy.”  I have thought of many other answers since then, but I usually tell people that they can’t change their original answer!

What relationship do you see between art and human progress?

I think that art is significant because it has no language or culture barrier.

Art is expressive, and can be therapeutic.   Art can serve as a common ground between conflicting ideologies or cultures.  I do believe that there can be human progress through art and design.      It expresses human emotion and defines human life and that alone is a testament to its important relationship to human progress.

What does the American dream mean to you? 

I think that the important thing about the “American Dream” is that it is completely relative by circumstance. To me, the American Dream is in acknowledging the opportunities I have, and taking them. It is also in giving back to people less fortunate, strength through family, and doing something I love, not just doing something for the money.  I know that the American dream in today’s society can span from merely obtaining food and shelter for the night, to being promoted in your fancy job and getting a new car.

What inspires you?

 It is not so much what inspires me, but who inspires me that is significant.   I am certainly inspired by places and things but it is more the people I meet in the journey that inspires me most.  This past summer, I spent 5 weeks in County Clare, Ireland studying art, and I could not get over how beautiful it was!  But I realized that more than anything I wanted to capture the energy of the people there, rather than focusing only on the landscape.

Check out the full project here and follow more of her work on her Tumblr.

Related articles

• A Dream Deferred (theorris.com)
• The American Dream (theorris.com)