Collecting stickers

“I guess collecting stickers was my way of capturing memories as a child. My favorite way to kill time after school was flipping through every single page in my journals, tracing the edges of each sticker to reminisce about my most cherished experiences. The idea of being able to hold onto memories and relive my favorite adventures through sticky paper was fascinating. My gold stars share the stories of my friends and I spending recess stealing the stickers from playground poles, and my turtle stickers remind me of dragging my parents into gift shops after looking through their glass windows. I have stickers from strangers I met during my rare trips on the Metro in Chicago and even more from the friends and family I see regularly.”

“I've always loved sticker because they're so easy to take anywhere, and there's endless uses for them! I find it one of the easiest ways to express myself. I'm kind of a nomad moving often form place to places, so I love collecting stickers everywhere I go. I really can't express in words how much stickers mean to me. I started my collection in childhood, but really got into collecting bigtime when I was getting help in a mental health facility in 2019. I couldn't keep too many personal items, but my favorites from my sticker collection, I got to keep. I used them everywhere - to write letters to family and friends, to give to other clients when they were feeling don (stickers always he!) and stuck them on my planner to make it feel more personalized.”