In 1999, artist Tony Deifell picked up his ringing telephone and a kid’s voice blurted out: “Why do you do what you do?”
Finding himself unable to give a clear, concise answer to the chance interviewer, Deifell became haunted by the simple query.
Years later, what began as hours of rumination eventually developed into Deifell’s “Why Do You Do What You Do” worldwide community art project, which provides participants with a creative way to answer the question by combining text and image.
And this year, it is coming to UCLA.
Participants, consisting of both professional artists and willing, creative individuals, were invited to create compelling visual and textual representations in the medium of their choice and upload them to the project website where works were selected for the upcoming exhibit at the Freud Playhouse through Dec. 7.
“The criteria is pretty loose. Answer the question using both words and image, photo, (or) mixed media. It’s up to the person,” said UCLA Live’s director of education and outreach, Meryl Friedman.
Since 2004, over 4,000 participants have given the world a glimpse into what drives them. Individuals from groups as diverse as Harvard Business School, Echoing Green Foundation, and Burning Man Art Festival are participating. Notable figures like Steve Case, the co-founder of AOL, and author Gloria Steinem have submitted their own “Why Do You Do What You Do” answers in the past.
This year the exhibition, sponsored by UCLA Live, will also involve the students from Professor Robert Winter’s Arts Encounters class, as well as submissions from an open call conducted in November accross the Los Angeles area.
Through a wide open call and unadorned methods, the project has yielded a variety of answers.
“(Submissions) range from very, very personal to more global,” Friedman said.
One of the submissions depicts a smiling infant standing in the ocean waves with the help of an adult, accompanied by the text “To watch her feel emotions for the first time.” The photograph creates a warm, intimate scene of what is important in the artist’s life.
The submissions deal with a variety of themes when representing their creators.
“Some (submissions) are positive … some are darker, more vulnerable ones” Deifell said.
A saturated, high contrast photo of a girl screaming and tearing at her hair is used for one of the submissions. “To break out” is written in black across her face.
Given the opportunity to answer the poignant question “why do you do what you do?,” people often depict some of the most intimate details of their psyches.
“People admit to having addictions or being motivated by something they don’t want to be motivated by,” Deifell said.
With a large portion of content submitted by college students, a few of the entries focus on students’ preoccupation with living up to the sacrifices their families have made to further their education, said Friedman.
In one photograph, four farmers stand in a circle on a dirt field, and a girl wearing a UCLA t-shirt and holding a stack of books sits between them. The words “to make my family proud” are typed at the bottom of the photograph.
All together, the works create a buzzing assortment of unique concerns and honest, humorous and intense reactions to a critical question.
“It’s a profound and moving experience, like everyone (is) talking to you personally,” Friedman said.
For being such a exceptional experience, “Why Do You Do What You Do” was conceived under comically arbitrary circumstances.
When Deifell was randomly solicited by a 12-year-old on a school assignment to learn about a community service agency, he did not know he would be so stumped by the kid’s unassuming question: “Why do you do what you do?”
“Either (I) should be able to answer that in a very essential way or maybe (I) shouldn’t be doing (what I do) at all,” he said.
Unable to let the question go, Deifell created the exhibit to give others a platform for understanding themselves in the world around them.
“This project is an opportunity for people to reflect on what they are doing in this world,” he said.