The Game of LIFE is a riff on and a satirical response to the classic board game created in 1960 by Bill Markham and Reuben Klamer. Most Americans are familiar with the family-style board game in which players simulate a person's travels through their life, from early adulthood to college, career, kids, and retirement.

My piece, however, is a provocative and maximalist collage of adult paraphernalia simulating a children’s playground. By transforming tax forms, parking tickets, beer bottle caps, pills of various kinds, drugs, pregnancy tests, tampons, and more into a fun and interactive childhood set, I comment on the absence of innocence and the transition to adulthood.

Each item encapsulates a facet of the adult and human experience, from societal expectations and responsibilities to vices and coping mechanisms. Viewers may or may not relate to certain objects or recognize particular set pieces.

Altogether, my piece highlights the multifaceted nature of adult life; where freedom, joy, and pleasure coexist with pain, failure, and hardship, and the toll that navigating these complexities can take on an individual’s well-being. This is the true “game of life” and everyone must play it to the best of their ability until the inevitability of death.

Video showing details and movement HERE.